Consults
by DJ Dubois
Summary: Seven months after "Problems", House and Cuddy prepare for their baby. As this happens, a case with an unknown cancer appears. To make matters more interesting, the consulting doctor, House and Cuddy have their histories. R and R to find out more!
1. Houses' Bliss?

Consult

July-August 2009

Notes Part 1: This story is the fourth in a series following "Gone for the Weekend", "Back to Orchard Cove" and "Problems".

Notes Part 2: House MD belongs to David Shore and FOX. All other characters are mine and fictitious. Please send comments to .

Chapter 1 [Orchard Cove, MI—Two Weeks after Labor Day]

The seasons were in transition across Michigan's UP. The first teasing signs of fall frosted the trees' canopies. Brisk chill winds blew across the Canadian border signifying Persephone's impending return to her husband's domain. People wore their sweaters and heavier coats as they did their errands. All in all, the initial preparations for winter were underway.

For the residents of a grey ranch on the village's northeast side, preparations of another sort went full tilt. Since their return to the area some seven months earlier, they had converted a guest bed room into a nursery, did other fixer-upper work on the house, solved cases at work and even found time to get used to living with each other. For two loners, the adjustments between Cuddy and House to matrimonial bliss sometimes could prove an adventure.

This was one such day….

****

House slowly lugged the big plastic trash can down the length of the driveway. He could imagine several different things he'd rather be doing at the moment such as double Clinic duty, the department report or maybe even helping to get Chase to finally propose to Cameron.

His infarcted thigh screamed at him in pain.

"Yeah! Yeah! I know already! Dammit!" he snarled at the offending body part. Normally he would've taken his vicodin before this endurance run. However, given how Cuddy was being at the present time, he wanted to get it over with.

"HOUSE!" she yelled from the doorstep.

"Be right there!" He rolled his eyes. _Oh now what? _He strained the barrel into position and leaned up against it to catch his breath. He looked back toward his very pregnant wife. "Yes, _Dear_?" he added with a sarcastic element.

Cuddy pulled her robe tightly over her sweats. "Forgot something?" She rattled the brown pill vial at him. "Why put yourself through that?"

_I ask myself the same question. _He limped his way toward her. "I wanted to get back to my soap. You know? Important stuff."

She shook her head. "Nice to see some things never change. What happens when the baby needs changing in the middle of that thing?"

"That's why God made commercials, Cuddy." He eased past her and into the living room. He remembered to take his shoes off so as to not to endure (yet another) lecture on that score.

The remote beckoned to him on the armrest of his favorite recliner.

He smirked and slumped into it softness. He pressed the button turning the big screen TV on. "Let's see what Nurse Jones has going today." For about five minutes, he buried himself in the soap's sudsy intrigues.

"House, aren't you forgetting something?"

He ground his teeth. "Commercial, Cuddy."

She reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a second remote. "Want to see what I found?"

"Gee. Can't wait," he sassed.

She pressed the mute button on her remote. As she did so, she recalled the feeling of power she'd enjoyed at PPTH during such 'busted' moments in his old office.

"Oh come on!" He rubbed his forehead in consternation while trying to remember what he'd missed out on. He'd picked up three more pints of fudge ripple for the freezer. He had remembered the peanut butter. Right? _Damn it! _He grimaced while turning around to see her patting the remote with her open right palm. "Thought I buried that thing."

"You did. Your mother and I found it," she revealed with a bit of pride and glee on her face. "I want my peanut butter. _Now._"

"Stupid cravings…." His eyes shot this way and that. Then he found it.

A half-eaten jar of the desired craving-buster sitting by her chair.

He grabbed it. "Oh lookie what I've got! No TV? No PB!"

"Give me that, House!" she insisted. She waddled toward him as quickly as she could.

He out-limped her into the hall toward his study. "Bet I can make it. Then _what _will you do? Not so smart, are you?" Granted it was still all a game. Just like at PPTH, he still loved to outfox her on these fronts.

Trouble is, she knew the games as well as he did. She saw an electrical cord snaking its way across his path. "Cough it up!"

"Got to catch me first!"

She smirked confidently while yanking the cord taut. "I gave you a chance."

The taut cord caught his ankle, sending him sprawling to the floor.

She waddled over and stooped to his level. "And look what I found. Never come between a pregnant woman and her cravings, House."

He rolled his eyes defiantly at her. He was pissed at losing that round.

"For this, you get to buy me a pint of butter ripple." She kissed his forehead. "Cheer up, House. Diaper duty will be here soon enough." Still she allowed him a warm glimpse. After all, despite the bantering and arguing, she did genuinely love him.

"Great. Love that," he groused. "What's next?"

The phone rang.

"We're being paged, Empress," he noted while conceding a slight smile.

She answered it, "House residence."

"Hi, Dr. House, this is Dr. Hadley. Is he busy or can he come to the phone?"

"Yes, Dr. Hadley, he can talk." Cuddy brought the cordless phone over to him. "For you."

"Gee I gathered that." He took the phone. "Hey, Hadley, hasn't Chase told you that it isn't smart to interrupt the Master when he's watching important stuff?" he snapped.

"Funny, Cameron mentioned that this is exactly when I should call you. We have a case. Thought you should know. Bye," Hadley informed him.

"Thought I should know about a case? Terrific. Mind giving me a hand?" he supposed.

Cuddy helped him up. "You are the department head. Remember? Besides I can go and help your mother."

He nodded. Since her husband's death, Blythe had problems with adjusting to being alone in her house. Twice a week, the couple had dinner with her to make sure that everything was okay.

Surprisingly enough, he had even grudgingly warmed to the idea. His pain didn't preclude making peace with her especially since his tormentor was now gone. "Yeah. You do that. Thanks. Gotta check on the Kiddies," he added absently. He limped toward the shower, forgetting the soap and their contest.

She frowned. Despite their preparations and the good feelings shared since their wedding, she knew that he was still haunted by his father's death and the lack of peace between them. She also knew he needed his space to resolve the issue. _House, I'm here if you need me! _


	2. Case and Histories

Chapter 2

[Diagnostics Department, Cold Harbor Hospital—an hour and a half later]

Hadley looked at her watch impatiently and then at the empty whiteboard. "Where is he? It's not like we have all day!"

Cameron and Chase exchanged knowing and sage looks with each other. In their time at CHH, they'd watched their new colleague get increasingly impatient with their boss.

In turn, House had shown Hadley he could care less. The only reaction he showed was to assign her more ( ie: half of his during certain weeks) Clinic hours.

"That's what you get for calling during his soap, Hadley," he informed her.

"He'll get here. It's just on his schedule. Trust me; you do get used to it," Cameron added while rubbing her forehead.

"Just like the old fart once said, the wizard's never early nor is he late. He arrives exactly when he means to. The Master is here!" House announced while limping through the door and tossing his overcoat on the chair behind his desk. "I know you all have been chomping at the bit. Can't keep you waiting too long, can I?"

"She shut your soap off again, didn't she?" Cameron supposed wryly while pouring him a cup of coffee.

Chase coughed and turned.

House glared at Cameron while taking the cup from her. "I hid the peanut butter so we're even."

"You do like living dangerously, don't you? Coming between a pregnant lady and her cravings now?" Cameron asked while eyeing her boyfriend.

"Got to show who wears the pants, Cameron," House asserted.

"You do like living dangerously," Hadley murmured to herself.

House sipped on the hot liquid while considering the scenario in progress. "So where's this hot case?' Grabbing the file before Cameron could, he opened and reviewed it. "Peters wants us to look at this one?"

"Personal favor to a donor, Dr. House," Peters informed them from the door. "Forgive me for intruding." He stepped gingerly into the suite. "Marilyn Michaels doesn't want to go to Detroit or Chicago. She wants to stay here."

House eyed the administrator. "She does realize that we don't have the facilities that Mercy or the Chicago places do, right?"

"She knows. She's willing though to pay for care here locally. I hear you have quite the track record at Mercy and in Chicago, Dr. House," Peters answered.

"Oh yeah. Fun times," House retorted while not giving an inch to Peters' assessment. "Tough to be popular."

"Yes. It must be," Peters replied with a bit of irony in his voice. He had gotten to know more about the Diagnostician over the previous seven months. "She wants you to treat her yourself."

"Only if I can bring Wilson in on this one," House insisted.

Peters fidgeted with his glasses. "I anticipated that, _Greg_."

House looked curiously at his boss. The only time Peters called him by his first name concerned when a request was about to flame out and die. "And you couldn't whine and beg to Wyngate enough, could you?"

"There was that." Peters nodded.

"Besides, Wilson is out of the country on retreat, remember?" Chase offered.

House shot his underling a dirty look. If he was going to put up with some wenchy heiress, he wanted his best friend riding shotgun. Besides he hadn't seen Wilson since the wedding. "Yeah well…call him!"

"House. There are other oncologists," Peters insisted. "In fact, there's one coming end of the week to work with us. She's one of Wilson's classmates." He opened his file and placed a vita on the table. "Dr. Angela Dubois. She's got quite a record and is the toast of the West Coast."

"Her?" He snorted sarcastically. "If she's figured out a way to grow a backbone. Little Miss Country herself," House responded knowingly.

"You know her, House?" Hadley supposed.

"Oh yeah. Cuddy's roommate in those days and all of that happy-happy stuff. Classic nerdy bleeding heart type. You'd love her, Cameron," House recalled. "So wonder who's the sucker was who married her?"

Peters took a deep breath. "I know about what happened at Detroit Mercy. Dr. Dubois saved your career, Dr. House. Now I'm asking you to please work courteously with her. Mrs. Michaels is flying her up here for the duration of the case. I know you'll extend *every* courtesy to her. Won't you?" He straightened his glasses again. "Do have a good day." With that, he left.

Hadley flipped through the vita. "House, Dubois has quite a record and….."

House glared at her; his icy blue eyes cutting through her and the other Ducklings' psyches.

"You know—we do have those rotations, right?" Chase suggested while getting up. "Ladies, shall we?"

Cameron wanted to find out more but knew that wasn't the time. _I'll ask the other half later. _She followed the other two out.

House stared out the window into the increasing overcast. He still remembered Dubois or 'Angel Cakes' as he called her during their days at Detroit Mercy. _Damn wimp is more trouble than she's worth! _ He took out his vial and dry swallowed six pills to relieve the increased throbbing in his leg.

He stormed out of the suite toward the elevator. Hell, even extra volunteer time in the Clinic was better than thinking about Angel Cakes.

****

[Cafeteria]

Hadley didn't understand House's problem with the consult. Granted, she agreed with him on making Michaels go to Detroit or Chicago. However, she also understood how funding and politics often overrode common sense. She also knew House often insulted and picked on his colleagues.

But the out and out hate she saw in his eyes?

"It's not you," Chase assured her. "You heard Peters. House and Dubois have a history."

"I'm surprised he's letting her work with us," Cameron noted as she sat down with the three coffees in hand. "Michaels must be one of the big wheels."

"She donates a hefty sum every year to CHH," Hadley agreed. "I guess she looks at us as her private treatment place."

"Another Vogler type. Wonderful," Cameron surmised before taking a drink of her coffee. Seeing Hadley's confusion, she added, "An investor who shook up and almost destroyed everything at PPTH four years ago."

"Yeah. He wanted to turn us into his private company," Chase agreed. "He and House really loved each other."

"I'll bet they did. No wonder House doesn't like it. Still, I wonder what Dubois has done?" Hadley realized.

"Don't push it," Cameron advised pointedly. "Let them deal with it. We'll stay on the sidelines."

Her boyfriend coughed. "You? Not try to help make peace? Right."

"If the opportunity arises, why not?" Cameron retorted.

"In this case, House isn't going to budge. You know that as well as I do. Best bet is what you said. Stick to it," he clarified.

"Okay," Cameron conceded even if she wanted to help anyway she could.

"Meantime, who's up to seeing the patient? Maybe we could get a leg up?" Hadley suggested/

"Let's do that. Remember though, no messing with House's puzzle," Cameron noted.

As they headed for the elevator, Hadley mused, _Now we have to worry about Dubois and House's puzzle? Terrific! What's next?_


	3. Visit with Blythe

Chapter 3

[Marquette—Blythe's House—About an hour later]

After having showered, dressed and cleaned up around the living room a bit, Cuddy drove up the color-dusted trees and browning grasses state road toward Marquette. As she did so, she marveled at the details which she'd overlooked along the way. She'd been so obsessed with her schoolwork, career and shutting out her peers' abuse. Now that she was on maternity leave and preparing to be "good mommy" as House put it, she had time to smell the roses.

_How will I deal with being a Mommy? _She frowned while glancing down at her swollen belly. She dealt with the past year's adjustments. She confronted the loss of her privileged position as hospital administrator. She married House thus confirming their long term relationship. She was expanding her relationships with family and friends. She stood on the verge of achieving immortality in terms of the baby. She was confronting herself.

But questions continued to push through her brain. Fear clawed at her gut.

Cuddy pulled into Blythe's driveway while debating these issues with herself. _I wish I didn't feel like I was flying by the seat of my pants! If I had run the hospital like this, everyone would be dead. _ She bit her lip but managed to collect herself. _Blythe knows that I'm doing great. _She walked up to the door and knocked.

Blythe opened the door. "Lisa! Hi! How are you?" She hugged her daughter-in-law. "Anything new with the baby?"

"Nothing new as far as Greg and I know. I've started my maternity leave so I'll be home getting some things together. If you want, you should come down and stay with us," Cuddy offered. "You won't be in the way. Honest."

"I may take a few days after the baby comes. You and Greg need the time to bond with him or her." Blythe took a breath. "I wish you'd tested for the baby's sex."

"We want it to be a surprise," Cuddy responded with a smile. "Not much longer to wait, you know." She followed her mother-in-law into the house and grimaced at how immaculate the place was.

Blythe smiled. "You're doing great, Lisa. Don't compare yourself to me."

"But our house isn't like this!" Cuddy sat down on the couch and fretted. "Greg and I are so busy, our place isn't this neat."

"Greg's never been the neatest person, Lisa. You're both busy. You don't need my validation." Blythe hugged her. "I love you, Lisa. Maybe you're not my daughter by birth but you're that in my heart. And I won't have you busting your butt and getting sick now. Your priority is that child and yourself."

Cuddy smiled in relief. "You have no idea how much I appreciate that." She returned the embrace. "You're such a help."

"Part of the job of being a good Mom. I feel like I have so much to catch up on with Greg and you. But we'll get there. I was just putting on some water for tea. Would you like a cup?"

"Please," Cuddy accepted. Just then, her phone rang. "Just a minute. Who'd be calling me now?"

"Maybe it's just a patient or Greg?" Blythe offered while setting the kettle on the stove.

Cuddy checked her caller ID. "A 520 area code? Who'd be calling me from Arizona?" She answered it. "This is Dr. Lisa House. Can I help you?"

"Lisa? Lisa Cuddy?" a familiar voice asked.

"That was my name. Sorry I got married about six months ago." Cuddy listened to the voice. "Angie Blackwell?"

"Yes. Actually I've been Angie Dubois since 1994. I married a great guy. We have three daughters. You did it, didn't you?" Angie replied.

Cuddy chuckled while recalling her former roommate's advice concerning House while they were all at Detroit Mercy. "House is my husband. In fact, I'm with his mother right now."

"I knew you two would fit together, Lisa. Maybe we can catch up? I was wondering if we could catch up while I'm in Cold Harbor?" Angie queried.

"You're going to be up here? You bet! When?" Cuddy queried while feeling excited about the prospect.

"End of this week. Lisa, House and I have a case together. I have to admit…I'm not really comfortable about this," Angie noted anxiously. "Our bosses want us to work together on a case. Sorry. I still remember Columbia and Mercy."

Cuddy winced. She remembered how House had treated the oncologist. _House must really love this. Peters, what the Hell are you doing? _"I remember how that went. Angie, I hate to do this but I need to visit with my mother-in-law. Are you going to be at this number later? Can I call you?"

"I'll be at home after 9 your time. You can call me at (520) 237-6546. Dave may get it so just be aware of that," Angie indicated. "Thanks for your support, Lisa. Please give my best to your mother-in-law. Looking forward to seeing you soon." With that, she signed off.

"Friend of yours?" Blythe asked as she let the tea steep in the cups.

"Angie was my roommate back in Detroit when we worked at Mercy. She's originally from Upstate New York. Grew up on a farm. She's really conservative," Cuddy recounted.

"I gather Greg must have loved working with her," Blythe presumed knowingly.

"He targeted her." Cuddy shook her head as she recalled how House had tormented the resident. "Greg was being Greg."

Blythe sighed. "And they need to work together? What about James?"

"He's unavailable. Angie was in Wilson's graduating class at Columbia. Peters must be thinking of that. I'll have to make sure Greg leaves her alone long enough to do their case," Cuddy guessed.

"Don't you go stressing that baby, Lisa. I'll speak to Greg."

"Blythe, please!" Cuddy protested knowing that would do more harm than good.

The older woman finished fixing their tea and set the cups on the table. "I respect Greg as a doctor but he needs to grow up when dealing with others. You were his boss. You know this."

Recalling some of the messes they'd encountered at PPTH, Cuddy had to concede that fact. Her biggest challenge in that regard was trying to coax change without affecting his genius or approach to the cases. _The bureaucratic balance! _She grimaced. _Hope we can deal with it. _

"Trust that we will deal with things, Lisa," Blythe assured her.

"I hope so," Cuddy wished, taking a longing sip from her cup. She had the nagging feeling in her gut. "I hope so."


	4. Argument with Wilson

Chapter 4 [CHH—later that afternoon]

[A/N: For those of you who read my "Dubois Chronicles" know, Angie and House have *quite* the history between them. The flashbacks are from there. The one here is from "The Forbidden".]

House emerged from the Clinic feeling even more frustrated and tired by the Whiners Anonymous meeting in there. Granted, the steady stream of runny noses, bruised knees and pseudo-informed patients made him want to vomit.

The duty nurse shook her head at him. _For such a great doctor, why does that man have to be such an ass? _As with a lot of people, she wondered what Cuddy saw in him.

Of course, House could care less about her—or any minion's—reaction. His mind was already wrangling over the latest Gordian Knot to land in his toy box. _How to deal with the mystery cancer. _ While he'd only given a cursory glance at the file, he knew that to bring Dubois in meant it was cancer. _Why the Hell couldn't Wilson just come? Damn Wyngate! _He limped into the suite and collapsed into his chair. He thumped the racquetball several times against the wall to burn off his frustration.

Then his phone rang.

He glared at the caller ID and recognized Wilson's cell. "Interesting." He allowed the phone to ring and then the message machine to pick up.

"House, if you're there, please pick up. We need to talk," Wilson noted. "Anyhow, sorry I can't be there this time. Look, Angie's a great oncologist. I recommended her personally and…."

At those words, House snatched the phone from the hook and growled, "YOU WHAT? Wilson, you idiot!"

"Hello to you too, House. Nice to see married life hasn't mellowed you too much," Wilson deadpanned. "I'd ask how everything's going but I guess you're pissed."

"Damn straight I'm pissed! I can't believe you'd dump Angel Cakes off on me especially after what happened at Mercy!" House spat taciturnly.

Wilson took a deep breath. "As I heard, that was _your _fault not Dubois'! She actually _saved _your ass in that suspension hearing."

House snorted. "Nice version for those of us who were there, Wilson. Care to recount her every tear for the viewers in Outer Mongolia who missed it?"

"Maybe we should ask Cuddy? She was also in the room at the time. House, you've had it in for Dubois since med school. Maybe now would be the time to act like—I don't know—a _grown up_—and treat her like the colleague she is?" Wilson pointed out.

"Nobody screws with me in my tank, Wilson. I don't care how many articles she's published or that stuff. She did it to me," House insisted.

"Yes, yes. She conveniently made up some story about how your concern for a patient caused you to overstep your bounds." Wilson laughed sarcastically. "House, you aren't going to win this one. Apparently your donor wants a big shot to treat her in her backyard. Dubois is that big shot. You're going to have to play nice with her."

"It's still _my _sandbox, Wilson!" House snapped a sharp toss of the ball against the wall.

"You're going to give the guy in the next office a headache. Quit it," Wilson declared. "Just work with it. It's not like Dubois is going to be there forever."

"You'd have to be at that meeting this week, Wilson."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "Sorry. I didn't realize I had to rearrange my life around your needs anymore, House. I am your friend. However, we do have to work within certain rules and realities. My reality is committed here in Prague for the next two weeks actually. Yours is to deal with the political garbage and not to stress your wife so badly that she miscarries."

"At least I've been married like _six whole months _without an affair, Wilson. That would be a record for you," House retorted.

"I've actually been married longer than that, House. Surprise, surprise. How's the baby? Any word?" Wilson wondered.

"The bomb'll hit any week now. We're waiting with baited breath," House mentioned while hiding his own concern. He wished they could get it over with and deal with the squalling one sooner rather than later.

"Really nice way to speak of impending fatherhood, House," Wilson chided. "I'm sure Cuddy and your mother feel the same way. How's your Mom anyhow?"

"Mom's okay. Cuddy and I go over there to make sure everything's all right. Now that Dad's gone, she isn't so bad," House informed him.

_At least he's doing that much. _"That sounds great, House. I'm glad you two are at least getting along. And the team?"

"The minions are still obeying their Master. Hadley's getting used to the new regime but it's a matter of time before she falls into line," House reported.

"Nice to see that doesn't change either," Wilson muttered.

"What was that?" House snapped.

"Nothing. Well I have to get back to the conference. Just work with everyone. We'll catch up when I get back to Princeton. See you later," Wilson concluded before hanging up.

House growled to himself. He mouthed five vicodin pills while recalling the hearing in question….

****

[Detroit Mercy Hospital—late May 1989]

_Despite not coming in until nine, House knew something was going on. He saw Michaels keeping Blackwell close by his side, shooting him threatening glares every so often. Rivers and Douchene talked together in the latter's office. Everyone who passed him in the halls seemed almost sympathetic--a strange thing in itself. __They know the whole thing. _

_He checked his box. Much to his surprise, he found a long white business envelope in there. He didn't have to open it to know what it contained. "Damn they move fast." He headed for the Clinic, knowing that Cuddy was just getting off her shift. He reached the area just as she was exiting it. "Hey, Cuddy!"_

"_House, not now," she declined, rushing to get through the door before he could stop her._

"_Yes now!" he snapped. "What the Hell's going on?"_

_She turned with a perturbed look on her face. "You really screwed up this weekend, House."_

"_I bet Angel Cakes really dumped on me. Didn't she?" he presumed._

_She drew him aside. "Actually, House, she surprised me. She could've pinned your balls to the wall. She didn't. You owe her an apology and a big thank you."_

"_Yeah right," he scoffed._

"_Don't be such a horse's ass. Look, I can't say anymore until this whole mess blows over. You know why," she told him point blank. "Think on it, House. Quit picking on her. Hell, just stay away from Angie. Understand? As your friend, I'm asking that of you. Please." With that, she left, heading down the hall toward Radiology._

_He shook his head. __She wouldn't stand up to Rivers and Michaels like that. Sorry, Cuddy, I'm not buying it. __With that, he headed for his office to read the summons in his hand._

_****_

[Three Days Later--Douchene's Conference Room]

_True to House's sense of the matter, the review board was looking to send a message. He knew Michaels, Rivers and Douchene would want the book thrown at him; a fact confirmed by the grim and tortuous questioning the panel had pursued. __Typical. __He rolled his eyes sarcastically._

_As Cuddy walked out from her discussion, she gave him a sympathetic glance before hustling toward the elevator._

_Blackwell kept her eyes averted, not wanting to make eye contact with him._

_I must really be in for it. __He frowned._

_The door opened and Douchene peered out. "Dr. House, we're ready."_

_The diagnostician stood and walked back into the room, finding the hot seat again. _

_Douchene sat beside Rivers and the Neurology chair. "We have reviewed the case and heard those people involved in this case. Dr. House, this board finds you guilty of professional misconduct. You took a file from the hospital in the effort to steal a case from one of your colleagues. Furthermore, you verbally assaulted one of your junior colleagues in her own home. You might be surprised to know that said colleague pointed out the mediating circumstance that your compassion overrode your common sense. That was taken into consideration too."_

"_Gee, Blackwell's a real saint," House retorted._

"_She tolerates more from you than she should," Douchene informed him. "Dr. House, you are a brilliant diagnostician. I've seen you solve cases that nobody has an inkling of. However, your lack of respect for colleagues and patients is alarming. You are suspended without pay for a week. Furthermore, I am releasing Dr. Blackwell from the Diagnostic component of her internship. You are to keep your distance from her. If you need an oncological consult, go through Dr. Rivers. There will be a letter placed in your permanent file. Thank you for your time. You may go."_

_House stood and walked out; the steam spewing from his ears. As with the kid who was caught with the hand in the cookie jar, he hated getting his hand slapped. _

_Maybe he had to keep away from Angel Cakes but he still had to get even. He smirked; a plan forming in his mind as he took the elevator toward the lobby._

****

House brooded over the events. "Yeah she's a real saint all right." He got up and limped out of his office. Maybe the two would work together but he didn't have to like it.


	5. The Impatient Patient

Chapter 5 [Michaels' Room]

Two floors below House's suite, Marilyn Michaels reclined on her bed in a private room. The heiress stared at the ceiling tiles impatiently. She'd dealt with her pain for the previous three months while wading through four other doctors' befuddled responses to her condition.

Two years' earlier, she'd taken her husband, Jack, to Chicago to the so-called "experts". Within six months, his brain tumor left her widowed.

This time, she determined not to make a similar mistake. Using the connections from her donations to the hospital, she traveled from nearby Haven City to secure the best possible local arrangements. She knew of House's reputation as a miracle worker if not difficult and surly attitudes. _He'll get to the bottom of this mess if I can stand him! _

The hospital also sought out an oncological consult. Since the last oncologists left for Colorado, there was nobody left in the department. _I can't believe they really have nobody specializing in cancer studies! Unreal! _While she didn't know the field, she trusted that Peters did.

As if on cue, Peters knocked at the door. "Mrs. Michaels, how are you?"

"Wishing we could get this underway! Why do we have to wait for that blasted oncologist! You should have at least one on staff!" she fumed impatiently.

"She'll be here by the end of the week. She's coming from Arizona but she's the best at what she does," he assured her anxiously.

"Arizona? My word, Dr. Peters! Certainly you could find someone closer!" she protested.

He opened his file. "With due respect, Mrs. Michaels, you didn't want to go to Chicago or Detroit. Dr. Dubois did her residency in Detroit but she's a great oncologist." He handed her a copy of the vita. "See for yourself."

The donor eyed Dubois' accomplishments and publications. "I see." She flipped through the vita and nodded. "I can see why you asked her. Very well. We'll see how she and Dr. House work together."

Peters chose not to say anything knowing full well about the two doctors' past history. "Yes. We shall see." He saw the Ducklings coming down the hall. "In fact, here is Dr. House's team." He motioned to them. "Come in!"

"Good afternoon," Hadley greeted. "I'm Dr. Hadley. These are Drs. Chase and Cameron. We'll be working on your case too."

"You'll be assisting Drs. House and Dubois you mean," Michaels corrected. "I'm sure you're all competent doctors but I only want the _best_ working on me!"

"We're all very experienced at what we do, Mrs. Michaels," Cameron assured her.

"You seem a little young to be a doctor, Dr. Cameron. How long have you done this?" the donor doubted.

"Seven years. Dr. Chase and I came from Princeton with Dr. House last winter. We were on his team there," Cameron retorted.

"Trust that we'll get to the bottom of this," Chase noted, eliciting a nod from Peters.

"I'm sure we will, Dr. Chase. Meantime, I'll wait until Dr. House decides to show up. I had some samples sent to the lab if you want to get those for him," Michaels dismissed.

The three doctors exchanged looks with the administrator before leaving the area. They knew that Michaels wasn't about to deal with minions.

Seems that House was about to have his hands full.


	6. Enter Angela Dubois

Chapter 6 [Later that afternoon—Tucson, AZ]

Even as fall descended over the UP, the sun blazed down on the Sonoran Desert. Not a cloud could be seen in the pale blue sky. A light warm breeze wafted across the Old Pueblo. The residents, while still needing to do their errands, kept indoors as well as in their cars and the local mass transit as much as possible.

Everyone looked to beat the heat it seemed….

****

[University Medical Center]

While students buzzed back and forth from the adjacent university campus, the concrete and brick complex just up the road from them buzzed with advances and activity. New discoveries were being made all of the time. The faculty and staff pressed hard to give their patients the best care.

No where in the place was that more true than the Oncology suite on the northwest side of the main building's fourth floor. In it, a slightly overweight woman with long auburn hair critiqued an article to be sent off for publication. To her right, her patients' latest charts. To her left, a stack of materials related to a new foray to the north. And in front of her, pictures of a dark haired man and three girls.

Angela Dubois strove to balance every facet of her professional and personal lives in such ways. While she seemed anxious on the outside, she had a quiet strength as well as a powerful empathy for her patients. As far as this article, a pioneering piece on laser treatments for certain cancers, she knew that there would be critics out there. She had left nothing to chance. Finally she'd printed the piece off and put it in a mailing envelope. "Gosh! I can't believe that's done!" She checked her files. "Dr. F's got his report. This will go out tomorrow. Belinda McDermott's set to deal with the other patients. That's everything."

She glanced at the stack of materials to her left. When Dr. Michael Fishburne, her boss, had approached her with this request, she had gladly accepted. As her minister said, one should always help one's fellow man.

Yet when she found out about House's role, she almost backed out. For several years, he'd been her personal tormentor appearing at several points to harass and pick on her. She still remembered how he'd dumped Clinic hours on her at Detroit Mercy. Or how he'd ridiculed her for calling Wilson for a consult and then gloated over the patient's death during her residency at Fall River Hospital.

But the worst was their first meeting. She had been a first year med student and was so excited about the big shot guest speaker.

She frowned as her mind flashed back…….

****

[Columbia University Main Lecture Hall—Fall 1987]

"_Come on, Jolene! We're going to be late!" Angela yelled while guiding her friend, Jolene, out of the subway tunnel and up onto the street. She had waited a whole week for this speaker from Detroit and didn't want to miss a minute._

"_We still have ten minutes!" Jolene shot back. "Angie, it's okay!" _

_Seeing the lecture hall in front of them, Angela slowed down. She didn't want to kill her friend or herself with a long sprint. "Fine. Sorry."_

"_Hey, enthusiasm from you is a good thing. No problem. Besides Frank and James are holding our seats," Jolene assured her._

_Angela nodded and smiled at her friend. She led them into the classroom and looked around. She saw Wilson waving them over. "There we are!"_

_Wilson shook his head. "You've got five minutes yet. Slow down. It's not like Henderson's going to kill you if you're on time."_

"_We wanted to get our seats," Angela noted. "I can't wait to see this guy! I was reading his articles in the library this morning."_

"_Now she's brown nosing," Frank groaned._

"_A little extra reading doesn't mean that," his girlfriend rebutted. "Cut that out!"_

_Frank sat in his seat and stewed, wanting to get this lecture over with so he could go to the lab ASAP. I don't care. It's still brown nosing as far as I'm concerned._

_At that moment, Dr. Henderson, a portly African-American man in a dark blue suit, stepped up onto the stage with a tall and skinny man who looked as if he hadn't shaved in three days. The former stepped to the podium and announced, "Good afternoon, everyone! As I mentioned on Friday, we have a guest speaker with us today from the Mercy Hospital System in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Gregory House, despite only being in his second year of practice, has already published several pieces in leading journals and makes innovations every day in the fields of diagnostics and nephrology. Dr. House, the podium is yours."_

_House frowned as he headed up to the podium, clearly seeming as if he wanted to be anywhere but there. "Aren't you a bunch of bright eyed and bushy tailed kids?" he proposed. "I'm sure by now you're learning that medicine isn't always a noble business. Any of you guys gets sick at the sight of blood?" Not seeing a hand, he reconsidered the group. "Damn. Either you're the strongest group of newbies or you're lying. Tip to you all, everyone lies." He smirked sarcastically._

_A hand went up to the side. "Dr. House?"_

"_Did I say it was question time yet, Pal?" the speaker asked._

"_No…that's why I raised the hand," the student, a Native American male, spoke up._

"_When I want questions, I'll let you know," House growled. _

"_Dr. House, let him ask his question," Henderson directed._

_House frowned. "Go ahead."_

"_What do you mean everyone lies, sir?" the student asked._

"_You think people always tell the truth, kid?" House stared at the younger man blankly. _

"_No."_

"_You just answered your own question. They're afraid to tell you, me, their minister, or anyone else what's really wrong with them," House explained._

_Angela's hand shot up. When the teacher pointed to her, she queried, "What do you mean they're afraid?"_

_House looked her up and down and smirked. "Love that country charm, you know."_

"_Excuse me?" Angela asked._

_The diagnostician continued, ignoring the teacher's glare. "He's from the reservation. Judging from the accent, you're from upstate…Albany, right? Let me guess, you tell your minister everything, right?"_

"_I have nothing to hide," Angela retorted._

"_Right," House countered. "We all have things to hide. I'll bet you do too. Pride of the village, I'll bet. Grew up on the farm…As I said, love that charm and naivety."_

"_I've seen more than you think!" Angela snapped._

_Frank grabbed her arm and shook his head at her. What is she doing?_

"_Judging from the guy's reaction to the right, looks like Ms. Country's about to spill something big. As I said, Folks, everyone lies!" House pronounced. "What is it?"_

_Everyone giggled around the room, pushing Angela down into her seat. _

"_Too bad, I wanted the challenge," House declared. "You saw what I just did. There are ways to read people. Ms. Country there says she has nothing to hide. Obviously, there's something that she knows that Mr. Slick to her right doesn't want us to know about. This, Kiddies, is what you run into with patients. So you guys doing it in the back room or what? When are you planning on telling your minister that one, hmmm?"_

_Angela flushed, staring incredulously at the speaker. "I c…can't believe this!" Seeing her classmates staring at her, she bolted from the room, not even grabbing her notebook in the process._

_Jolene stood up and retorted, "This is absurd! You're conjuring this up out of nowhere just to get a rise out of people. Reading us indeed! More like insulting us! Doctors are supposed to care about people not cajole them!"_

_House smirked. "Better off with her than with Ms. Country, Mr. Slick. She's got a backbone at least."_

"_House, stop it. Can we move onto the lecture?" Henderson insisted._

"_This is the point."_

"_I don't need to hear this," Jolene insisted. "Frank, stay here. I'm going to see if Angie's okay." She grabbed her things and Angela's before storming out of the room._

"_Wow. Nice to see you all are super loyal. As I said, you're newbies. You'll learn. Now we can get onto the innovations….." With that, House started into his lecture._

_****_

[Outside]

_Jolene rushed outside into the cold damp day, looking around for her friend. "Angie? Angie?" Then from behind one of the pillars, she heard a quiet sobbing. She looked to find her friend shuddering in the icy breeze. "It's okay, Angie."_

"_No he's right. I have my secrets," Angela muttered, shaking because of her mood as well as the chill. "I can't even be honest with myself! How can I expect people to be honest with me?"_

"_Angie, cut it out. House is a few nuts short of a candy bar. You're going to be a fine doctor. You want to know why?"_

_The farm girl grimaced. "Why?"_

"_Because you care unlike that asshole," Jolene affirmed. "Look, you can approach this two ways. You could quit or you could stand up to him—prove him wrong."_

_For a second, Angela couldn't believe that. Then for some reason, she thought of her friend, David Dubois and how many times he must have stood up to loudmouths like House over the years. She stood up. "I…I still feel embarrassed but I won't quit."_

"_Want to get a coffee?" Jolene asked. "Frank and James are taking notes for us."_

"_I'd appreciate that," Angela accepted. "Thanks for coming out after me, Jo. You're going to get in trouble, you know."_

"_If I get in trouble for that, then I'm glad for it." With that, she led her friend down the stairs toward the coffee shop across the street._

_****_

[Forty-five minutes later]

_After drinking a mocha, Angela definitely felt better, seeing her classmate's point. She knew she had something to offer…if she could stop letting people like House get under her skin. "Thanks. I needed that."_

"_I thought you might. You deserve this," Jolene assured her. "Wonder why Frank was so jumpy though?"_

_I wonder why too. Maybe he's afraid I'd say something about Dave's situation? She snorted to herself. As if I would ever betray him especially to an idiot like that creep! _

"_What's so funny?"_

"_Huh?" Angela asked._

"_You laughed. What's the joke?"_

"_Frank's reaction. I wondered why he was so paranoid," Angela answered._

"_You and me both. I don't understand what's with him lately." Jolene shook her head while sipping some more of her drink. "Did he have any issues back in Amherst at all?"_

"_Not that I know of." Other than the usual dark yucky stuff that we all dealt with. Once again, she saw the Child in her mind's eye and went white with fear._

"_Hey! Come on! Are you okay?" Jolene demanded. "What is it?"_

"_Looks like Angel Cakes needs a backbone," House sneered. _

"_And you need a clue," Jolene fired back, defending her friend._

"_She's scared of me," House presumed. "Good. I like that."_

"_You need a life," Angela whispered, putting her head down so she wouldn't have to look at him anymore._

_Seeing that she wasn't going to provide him with any more entertainment, House shrugged and headed off._

"_What an awful man. How does someone like that become a doctor? HOW?" Angela sniffled before breaking down._

"_That's a good question. As I said before, you need to prove him wrong. Okay? Is there anything I can do?" Jolene reiterated._

"_I need to make a call. Excuse me. I'll be back," Angela requested before heading for the pay phone. _

_I hope she's okay._

****

[Modern Day]

Angela set her jaw. "How can that man be so cruel? HOW?" She felt the butterflies buzzing around in her stomach. A chill went up her spine. Then she shook it off. "I'm stronger than that now. I don't have anything to prove now to House." She looked at the pictures in front of herself and felt a surge of strength. "I remember what you said, Dave. Have faith. I can do this."

Of course she also remembered how her husband had evened the score with House at that point too…..

****

[Coffee Shop--1987]

_After making a phone call and going into the ladies' room, Angie meandered back to the booth and slid back in. "Thanks for waiting, Jo. You might want to make some room. We're going to have one more."_

"_One…?" Jolene studied her friend. "Who?"_

"_Dave was still here in town doing some research," Angela noted. _

"_Research?" Jolene wondered, recalling that their friends supposedly left for the airport on Saturday. Then she saw him getting something at the counter. "How? What?"_

"_Afternoon, Ladies," he greeted while sliding into the booth next to Angie; a mocha clearly in his left hand. "What's the problem?"_

"_Sorry to bug you," Angela apologized again._

"_I told you it's no bother. I was done anyway. What's got you so upset anyhow? You were so excited this weekend," he queried._

"_That speaker—the one from today embarrassed me in front of the class," Angela recounted before burying her face in her hands. "He said I was hiding something….Frank grabbed my arm. He accused us in front of the class!"_

_Frank must have thought she was going to say something about me to do that. "Accused you of what?"_

"_He accused Frank and her of having sex," Jolene revealed._

"_He WHAT?" Dave stared at the two girls. "Jo, you know that's not true!"_

"_Of course I know that!" Jolene looked around, seeing House over in the corner. _

_Dave, of course, already picked up on the vibes coming from the diagnostician. The creep's stalking his handiwork, is he? He considered how upset Angela was over this mess. "You know, the world has a way of evening things out."_

"_Such as?" Angela sniffled._

"_Just have faith," Dave assured them. He studied how House was sitting as well as how rickety the old stool was underneath him. He smiled._

"_What?" Jolene asked._

"_Nothing. Just saw something." Dave focused on the stool. As only Angela and he knew among the diner's denizens at that point, he was a mutant with an extremely well developed telekinetic gift. He aimed it at the stool and gave a "yank". _

_The stool splintered._

_As it gave way, House fell backwards, landing on his rear end and spilling his coffee all over himself. _

_Around him, the other patrons snickered and rubbernecked. _

"_Funny how those stools can break, isn't it?" As the other man rose to his feet, Dave took another sip of his drink. _

"_Thankfully he's okay," Angela expressed._

"_Just desserts then," Dave presumed. Even if I gave Fate an assist in the process. _

****

[Modern Day]

Angela just shook her head. _I shouldn't have sanctioned such stunts but nobody ever stood up for me the way Dave does! At least House took some lumps for a change! _She sighed. _I just wish Lisa didn't love him so much. What is it about those two? Ah well. At least she can keep him in check! _She shut her computer down. "Time to go." She packed the materials for Michigan in her valise. Then she grabbed the patients' files and locked the door.

Rounding the corner, she came to a nurse's station. Sitting behind the counter, a brunette woman with dark eyes looked up and smiled at her. "Ready to go, Angie?"

Angela shrugged at her sister-in-law. "As ready as I'll ever be, Karen. You know how well House and I mixed back then?"

"Angie, that was then. This is now," Karen Montoya reminded her pointedly. "You are a world renowned oncologist not to mention a helluva mother, wife and person. House is no where near the person you are. Be yourself. Do I need to have Dave or Dr. Fishburne give you the Lecture again?"

Angela blushed and shook her head. "No. I know I'm capable of doing this. He's taking me out tonight. Please thank Mike for watching the girls tonight."

"No problem. Dave's got something up his sleeve for you. I know better than to get in his way on that score," Karen indicated. "Are those the files?" She took them from the doctor. "I'll make sure Dr. McDermott gets them. You work hard up there and do great. Enjoy the visit with Lisa Cuddy. Remember you have nothing to prove to House. Got it? They called you not the other way around."

"Thanks." Angela hugged the nurse. Then she felt her pager buzzing. "I know who that is." She glanced at it and giggled.

"My brother's impatient. Look out, Angie," Karen cracked.

Angela smiled and waved while heading toward the elevator. "I'll do that."

After the doors closed, Karen mused, _Break a leg up there. Just stand up to that guy, will you? _

****

[Social Sciences Building—Campus—twenty minutes later]

Feeling enthused by the talk with her sister-in-law, Angela managed a brisk pace across campus. _I am that good! I can do this. James thinks so. So does Frank Landers. _She reached the three story brick building and headed through the glass door. Then she took a left into the History Department's office.

"Karen says you're fretting again," a voice noted from the office in front of her.

Angela shook her head. "You know why, Dave. It's House."

"And you're you." The browned hair man smiled warmly at her. "You're Angie Dubois. Hottest oncologist on the planet."

"Dave, stop!" she protested while looking around to make sure nobody heard that.

"I'm your husband and the department chair. My domain. My right to say it," Dave shot back with a smirk. "Yes, House is The Man. Fine. Whatever. You're the Woman. Remember that, Princess." He embraced her. "I have confidence in you."

"Thanks." It didn't matter to her how many times he'd told her that since their high school days, she still felt like floating on air when he said it.

"My pleasure. Now to affirm this, we have dinner at Ribs Extra. You are getting the best in barbeque, Dear. Of course, I will eat you under the table, you understand," he sassed her.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Oh _really_? We'll see about _that_." She grinned back at him.

He chuckled. "That's better." He shut his computer down and looked over his affairs. "Now shall we?" He cut the lights and shut the door.

"We shall," she agreed as they headed out the door toward their date.


	7. House and Cuddy discussionphone call

Chapter 7 [Orchard Cove]

After a quickie stop off at Mulligan's downtown for a drink to take the edge off and the convenience store for the required butter ripple ice cream, House rode his motorcycle home. He managed to avoid Peters in the lobby and Michaels for the night at least. _Hopefully Cuddy doesn't get too whiney about Angel Cakes. I don't want to hear it! _He turned into the driveway and stopped in front of the garage. Using the handheld remote, he opened it and parked beside her Nissan. For a minute, he considered the "his and her" arrangement. He let the wedding band glint on his hand.

_You're really tied into this. _He mused over the whole situation yet again. Reestablished position. Old/new place. Constant snark fest wrapped between hot intense romance. Baby soon to be on the way. Dealing with widowed parent after so many years. He frowned. For a control freak like him, change wasn't always a welcome thing.

He produced the pill vial and swallowed four more pills, letting them settle his nerves and blunt the Pain.

Cuddy made it worthwhile for him to try. Other than Stacy in the beginning, she was the only woman who he felt compelled to reach outside of himself for. Of course, who would've known when they first met—or rather literally ran into each other—in the U of M's student union that they'd become the team that they were now?

He smirked at that thought. _First hyena face. Yeah. _He let himself into the house to find Cuddy sitting by herself in the living room. "See you're getting dibs already on the couch."

"Kind of works with the pregnant territory, House. Have a good day?" she retorted while trying to keep upbeat. She'd been thinking of what to say to him about their visitor. _Best to keep it light for now._

"Usual browbeating of the Kiddies. Have to keep them in line," he indicated. "Hid out in the Clinic to avoid Peters and a bitch patient."

"Marilyn Michaels, right? She must be a real pain to make you attend oh—extra meetings of 'Whiners' Anonymous'" she supposed while using his own terminology. "And there's something or rather _someone _else that's pissing you off too?"

He rolled his eyes. "I hoped to avoid talking about _her _at least for tonight." He opened the fridge and put the ice cream in its place. Then he began rummaging around for something. "What's yummy in here?"

"House, wait on the food. We need to talk."

"Tummy first. Talk later," he retorted, clearly trying to put her off.

She frowned. "Fine. Get your sandwich. You can enjoy it _all night _right _here_."

He rolled his eyes. "This had better be good!" He closed the fridge door hard and limped into the living room. After flopping onto the recliner, he asked, "Satisfied?"

She shrugged and arched an eyebrow. "Bet you're wondering how I found out about Michaels."

"I figured you used that Empress sense or something." He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. "Or rather the Little Whiner that Could called."

"Yes, _Angie _called. She really wants to help Michaels. But she's dreading working with you again," she informed him. "I filled your mother in on the history between you two."

He winced, knowing that Blythe was going to deliver another of her 'Mother Knows Best' lectures. "Dammit! Cuddy, you know what I'm going to get."

"You deserve it in this case. Angie never did anything to you. On the other hand, she did save your ass and carried you in the Clinic at Mercy. Think you can act nice?" she pointed out.

"She's a mere minion. I had the power. She needed to learn the Facts of Life," he declared.

"Just like I have the Power here. I'll also teach you about those Facts if you mess with her while she's here, House." She smiled predatorily. "Your mother invited her for dinner tomorrow night. We're going. No excuses."

He sighed, seeing that his monster trucks' show was about to be preempted by another nauseating dose of goodie-goodie relations.

"Don't worry. I've already set the DVR so you can see your trucks later," she assured him. "Of course, that _could _get cancelled if you don't play nice."

Once again, he frowned. "Think Angel Cakes can show a backbone?"

"I'm sure Angie's working on that." On that front, Cuddy had to concede the point to House. While she knew her former roommate had come a long way on a lot of professional and personal fronts, she still recalled how timid, shy and conservative the oncologist was. "And the nickname goes too. She hates when you call her that or Miss Country."

He glared at her.

She returned the Glare at him. "I'm not kidding, House. The hospital's paying to have her here. I want Angie to feel good about her experience. That doesn't mean you have to kiss her ass every two minutes. Just act respectably toward her. Treat her like a colleague. Believe me; she more than knows what she's getting into."

Then she got up and waddled over to him. She leaned over close to him and delivered a very long and involved French kiss. "Besides I will make it worth your while to be that way," she whispered suggestively into his ear. "Just think on that, House." She headed for her study.

_Damn blackmail! _He was trapped. On the one hand, he could endure the intruding doctor's visit and get his treats. But that would mean he wouldn't get the satisfaction of pounding on his former victim again. On the other hand, if he pursued the pounding, he'd be sentenced to exile on Couch Island and have to endure his mother and Peters not to mention Michaels.

He got up out of his chair and limped toward the kitchen. He went back into the fridge, dug out some ham and Swiss cheese and threw together a sandwich. "I can't believe this crap!"

Whatever Cuddy had in mind, it had better be damn good as far as he was concerned…..

****

[Cuddy's Study]

Cuddy settled into her padded chair with a heavy heart. She hated to yell at him like that before he even got settled into a relaxing routine. _Still he needed to understand that what happened in the past can't happen now! Why can't he just GROW UP? _Then she caught herself. _Because he wouldn't be the House you love, Lisa. That's why._

She shook her head, picked up the cordless phone and dialed away. _I hope you have gotten a little tougher, Angie. Everything could depend on it. _

"Good evening, Dubois residence. Can I help you?" a male voice answered.

"Hi. This is Lisa House. I was calling for Angie. Is this Dave?" Cuddy wondered.

"It most certainly is. Hi, Lisa! Angie mentioned that you'd be calling. How are you?" he queried in a friendly manner.

"I'm great. Baby on the way and we're getting ready for Angie's trip. How are you doing?" she inquired.

"The family's fine. Our daughters are in junior high. Angie just sent another article off today. I'm trying to keep the History Department on track here. I just hope everything's going to be okay up there. Sorry." He sighed. "I really don't want another Figueroa moment if you get my drift?"

She bit her lip while recalling that particular incident.

During Angela's residency in Fall River, she'd called Wilson for a consult.

House intercepted the call and used the opportunity to harass her again. Then he taunted her when the patient, Anton Figueroa, died.

"_Sorry. Wilson's at a big bad oncology meeting. Guess you'd be there too if you weren't still a resident and actually a real oncologist. Must really suck for you, huh?" _

And then….

"_Still nobody to love you, Angel Cakes. Guess that's your real case going up in smoke, ain't it? Oh it sucks to be you! Bye, Angel Cakes!" _

She grimaced before responding, "I've spoken with House about that, David. You know I respect Angie tremendously but I hope she's a little tougher. No disrespect meant."

"None taken. She's getting there. I advised her to hold her own with your husband if you don't me putting it like that. Where they're concerned, he's the Man. But my wife's the Woman. Hopefully they can both get something out of this. Well, I'll let you talk to Angie. The girls need help with their homework. You take care. Good luck with your baby. Okay?" he agreed.

"Thanks, Dave. I appreciate it," she expressed. "Have a good night."

"You too." He handed the phone to his wife.

"Hi, Lisa! Sorry to interrupt you this afternoon," Angela apologized.

"Hi, Angie. All set to come up here?" Cuddy wondered.

"All of my work is set here. The latest piece went out today. Patients are going great. I'll review the case on the flight," Angela replied.

"And all things _non-work related_?" Cuddy inquired. _Same Angie. Never really gets her mind out of her work._

As Dave said, the twins are great. He and I just went out for this great rib dinner! He was giving me the combo pep talk/reality check lecture about the trip. I really want this to work, Lisa. I just hope House can work with me," Angela recounted.

_I take it back. She does have her mind on other things! _"House is being House. I'm working on him. Meantime just be yourself. Just be firm and stand your ground. You're going to have to earn his respect. It's not fair but that's just the way he is," Cuddy assessed.

"I know. I know he's hard wired to be a jerk, Lisa. I respect myself more now than I used to. Dave won't have it any other way," Angela told her. "I will tell House to get lost if he gets too insulting."

_I would pay to see that! _"Remember the patient needs you two to play nice."

"Remind House of that. I wouldn't be coming up there if I wasn't willing to do it," Angela informed Cuddy. "By the way, congratulations on the marriage. I'm glad you and House finally did it."

Cuddy sighed. "I am too. I hated to lose the position at Princeton over it and the pregnancy but it's turning out all right. House has his team from there here now. I never thought I'd say this but it's better being a department head rather than an administrator. You'll see the hospital day after tomorrow. We'll get caught up then."

"Okay." Angela read her itinerary. "I'm on Flight 827 from Chicago at 4:10 PM. Is that okay?"

"It's great. I'll meet you at Marquette. By the way, we're having dinner with my mother-in-law tomorrow night. Don't worry. She won't let House snipe you. You'll really like Blythe."

"I imagine she's a lot like my mother-in-law. You remember her from that medical conference in 1992? She was at the table with us for dinner," Angela reminded her.

"The older of those two nurses? Cindy? Sarai? Sorry."

Angela laughed, "It's okay. Her name's Sarah. Anyhow, I imagine it'll be great. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon. Anything I can bring you from here?"

"That's okay. Just get yourself here safely, Angie. It'll be great to see you. Talk to you then. If you have any problems, call my cell. See you later," Cuddy concluded.

"Thanks! You too!" Angela concluded before hanging up.

Cuddy hung up and smiled. She glanced back toward the living room. _House, you better get ready. I don't think you're going to have as easy a time with Angie as in the past._


	8. House and Michaels

Chapter 8 [Next Day]

[Diagnostics Suite]

Chase looked out the window toward the lakefront. As with the rest of the team, he endured the visits with Michaels. He also wondered about this blast from House's past. _Cuddy's going to have to officiate between them? Bloody Hell. There goes this case. _

"Something's eating you," Cameron supposed from the table where she and Hadley sat reviewing case notes for the three items on the department's agenda.

"The Michaels case. I really don't feel like getting between House and Dubois," he assessed.

"Either she'll stand up to him or not. We have a job to do," Hadley noted.

"It isn't that simple," Cameron disagreed while siding with him. "If House takes a special interest in making someone's life miserable, he's going to keep at it. Dubois was his special pet target according to Wilson."

Hadley shook her head. "Wish he would just grow up. Michaels is going to be difficult enough to deal with."

"You'll see Christmas in July first," Cameron declared. She started the coffee perking. "Better to make sure they play nice."

"Or you'll sic your killer bunnies on us?" House supposed sarcastically while limping into the office. After the two debates not to mention the upcoming Dinner from Hell that night, he wasn't in the mood to get into a debate over such things with his cronies. "Anyone remember to pull the witch's staff? She might turn you into a frog if you get too close."

"Which one? Dubois? Michaels?" Chase asked incredulously.

House laughed. "You really think I'm scared of Angel Cakes?" He shook his head. "She knows better than to mess with me. Michaels is just another too big for her britches donor who thinks she owns the place. Don't you know? I'm the Man! YEAH!" He started scribbling on the white board.

"Shouldn't we wait until Dubois arrives?" Hadley noted. "I know you like to treat patients at a distance but let the specialist get here first."

House arched an eyebrow at the newest team member before continuing to do just what he was doing. "Grey spots all over the skin. Hot flashes. Hair falling out. Sounds like hyena-itis. Maybe I should warn Cuddy?"

The trio didn't respond.

"Fine. Don't play." House motioned with his head. "Go and check on Brunhilda downstairs, do Clinic duty or eat lunch. Whatever."

"She wants to see you, House," Hadley. "Not us."

"Really? Gee, Hadley, maybe you might want to throw some of those lesbian charms on her. An old babe like that might really get off on that," House sneered.

Hadley bristled. "I think I'll get that coffee now." She got up and stormed out of the office.

"Wow. I guess our new babe ain't as tough as she thought she was," House supposed.

"Are you finished?" Cameron asked while getting impatient.

"Whatever. Go and do your touchie, feelie thing, Rambunny. I've got a soap to watch," House retorted.

"We've got rounds," Chase indicated before he and Cameron left the room.

The Diagnostician threw his marker in disgust. Bad enough that he had to deal with his nemesis. Bad enough that Cuddy was riding him. Now the patient was inspiring the minions to revolt too?

No way. No how.

"Time to meet this wench, methinks." He stalked out of the suite and headed toward the elevator.

The soap could wait for once. This needed to be dealt with…and now.

****

[Michaels' Room]

Meantime, Michaels fumed in her room about the lack of treatment. After dismissing the three lackies who called themselves doctors, she'd only seen Peters and a few nurses coming in and out. She flipped through a copy of the _Marquette Motions _with attitude. "Is this what I'm paying for? Just to sit here and rot?" She flipped through a few more pages while contemplating whether to pull her check next year or not.

A tapping on her bedpost made her jump.

She saw House standing there in his rumpled tweed coat, t-shirt, unkempt beard and blue jeans. The visitor leaned noticeably on a cane and studied her through narrowed eyes. She pressed a button on her bedside remote. "NURSE!"

A slender blonde RN ran into the room. "Yes, Mrs. Michaels?"

"Remove this…_vagrant_…from my room now! And will you get that useless doctor, House, down here?" Michaels demanded.

He smirked wickedly, relishing the game in motion. Just to stick the knife in further, he took his pills out and swallowed two of them. "Yummy. Got to feed the need, you know."

The nurse coughed and exchanged looks with House. While she and the other RNs detested him, two days of being at this particular patient's beck and call made the Diagnostician seem like a saint.

"I insist you call the police now!" Michaels yelled.

"You wanna be treated? Fine. Don't dismiss me and my team, Lady," he retorted firmly.

She stared incredulously.

The nurse shrugged almost relishing how Michaels had been struck dumb by that particular revelation. "This is Dr. House. Are you set, Doctor?"

"Yeah. I'll yell if we need anything," he replied coolly.

The nurse nodded and left quickly.

"How dare you?" Michaels demanded.

"How dare I _what_? Send my team to evaluate you? Get ready for our other fine wiz-doc to show up? She'll be here tonight. Wait until you meet her. Barrel of laughs that one," he retorted sarcastically.

"It's taking Dubois long enough to get here. When she does, I want to deal with _her _only! GET OUT!" Michaels snapped.

He shrugged. "You're my patient." He took out his file and looked at her information. Then he analyzed the diagnostic displays.

"Didn't you hear me? I said GET OUT!" Michaels reiterated.

"Oh I heard you, all right. It's either here or the other big nasty places. No private wards for big pockets there," he mentioned caustically. "Everything seems normal. BP's a little elevated."

She picked up the receiver. "I'll get rid of you, you drugged out menace!" Not getting a dial tone, she saw that the cord was disconnected. "YOU INGRATE!"

"Oopsie. Did I do that? Now what_ever _will you do?" he supposed sarcastically. "Congrats. Lady, you just pissed off the entire ward and hospital." He closed his file and checked his watch. "Time for my soap anyhow. When you're ready to be treated, do let us know." With that, he triumphantly strode from the room.

The charge nurse shot him a quick smile in spite of herself.

He just kept going. He figured he might get through his soap before the crap hit the fan…..

****

[Diagnostics' Suite—an hour and a half later]

House reclined in his chair while finishing off the daily soap installment. Watching Nurse Jones hit the broom closet with the trashy intern really disappointed him. _Writing's really weak. Crap, why do I bother? _He swallowed another pill and chased it with a slug of cold coffee.

Peters knocked and march into the room. "We need to talk now."

_Here we go. Goodie! _"Sorry if I insulted the big bad donor. Lady actually needs to allow people near her to be treated, you know," House indicated wryly.

"Dr. House, this is serious! Do you realize what would happen if Mrs. Michaels pulls her check from this hospital?" the administrator asked him. "We'd lose valuable programs!"

"Yeah well. She can let my team do its job! All I did was go into her room and observe her. That's it. She started screaming like a damn hyena. I tried to do my job. Ask the charge nurse," House pointed out.

"Yes. Ms. Ferman has backed you in that regard." He quirked his eyebrow at that notion considering how that nurse felt about the Diagnostician. "Still, we really need you to be nicer to Mrs. Michaels."

"Gee. Maybe I should kiss her ass or something," House snapped back. As much as he knew Peters was trying to deal with things, it was at points like this that he missed having Cuddy as his boss. "Look, Peters, I need to be able to do my job! And don't think I'm going to let Dubois be my mouthpiece!"

"At this point, that might be the only thing that'll work. Mrs. Michaels has requested that you be pulled off of the case." Peters checked his watch. "Look, you don't have Clinic duty. Dr. Dubois will be landing in an hour. Your wife said that you two have dinner with her and your mother in Marquette?"

"Yeah. Really looking forward to that. Joy. Joy," House groused.

Peters tapped the side of the doorframe. "Don't make me order you to be nice to her, Dr. House. I've spoken with Dr. Douchene at Detroit Mercy about what happened there. There _will not _be a repeat of what happened there. Angela Dubois may not be James Wilson. Okay. Fine. But she is a stellar oncologist. We would be lucky to have her on staff here." He let that notion hang in the air for a minute. "You will treat her with respect. Go ahead and head for Marquette. You and she have a meeting in my office at 9 AM sharp tomorrow morning. Meantime, have a nice dinner." With that, he left the suite.

House felt his stomach lurch. _So that's it? This is a makeshift interview for Angel Cakes? Great. _He winced and ground his teeth. "There's goes dinner." With that, he shut down his computer and headed for the elevator.

Dinner was going to be a blast. That was assured now…..


	9. Memories at the Airport

Chapter 9

[Marquette International Airport]

Cuddy waddled up the ramp to the waiting area and took a seat. She had checked with Blythe and the airlines to make sure that everything was okay. _So far, so good. _She checked her watch. _Fifteen minutes to go! _She glanced outside the window toward the clear blue sky above.

She still remembered the first time she'd picked Angela up like this…..

****

[January 20, 1990--Northwest Terminal, Detroit Airport--Romulus, MI]

Cuddy checked her watch while walking into the terminal area. She knew that the latest cases had kept her in the city longer than she had intended. Ironically, it was House who reminded her about 'Angel Cake's' arrival. _I need to get him to back off of her. _She recalled from their days in Ann Arbor how he singled out the 'wimps' for his 'personalized' treatment. _Hopefully, Douchene will speak to House too as well as the Chief of Medicine. Still, Angie needs to get stronger. _She glanced up at a bank of monitors, finding the flight from Albany. "Gate 8." She went there.

As she got there, she saw Angela walk into the gate area and look around at her surroundings. She waved.

Seeing her guide, Angela breathed a big sigh of relief. "Hi, Lisa. Thanks for coming out to get me like this."

"No problem. How was your flight?" Cuddy asked while taking one of her new roommate's suitcases.

"Okay. We had good weather all the way. Hopefully that's a good omen," Angela responded, trying to be positive as everyone had advised.

"Hopefully. We'll drop your things off at the apartment. Then Dr. Douchene wanted to meet with you this afternoon. We have time for a sandwich at the apartment if you'd like," Cuddy agreed. "Follow me."

****

[Half an hour later--the apartment]

During the ride in from Romulus, Cuddy answered a few questions for Angela about Detroit and the hospital, promising a full tour later. After pointing out the hospital, she drove them through the front gate of their apartment complex and into their spot. "Here we are."

Angela got out of the car and surveyed the wood buildings and grass. Around the complex, a fence separated them from the rest of the city outside. "Should I ask about the fence?"

"Big city living," Cuddy replied. "I had to adjust to it too. Orchard Cove is a long way from this as well." She smiled at the other's surprise. "Surprise. I come from a rural town too. You'll adjust. Trust me." She grabbed a suitcase and led Angie into their building and down a flight of stairs. "Here we are. Hope you like it." She unlocked the door and opened it.

Angela walked in and looked around the small two bedroom apartment. A small kitchenette had a stove, a refrigerator but minimal counter space. Another door sat off to the left. She padded across the tan rug and took in the few pictures on the whitewashed plaster walls. She saw a small 13 inch black and white TV in the corner and a worn green couch across the room from it. "Looks cozy."

"It is when we get back here. You'll be spending a lot of time at the hospital. Welcome to the profession. Let me show you your bedroom." Cuddy led her down the hall to where two doors sat side by side. She opened the left one. "Your predecessor left a pretty good twin bed there. I haven't slept on it so I can't say how it is one way or the other."

"It should be okay," Angela guessed while setting down her suitcases and sitting on the mattress. "This is great. I really appreciate this, Lisa." She took out an envelope and handed it to her friend. "That's the rent through March. I wanted to make sure you had that."

Cuddy opened it and fingered the money. _At least she's on top of that. _"Thanks. I'll put this in a safe place. I have some turkey and Swiss in the fridge if you want a sandwich."

"Sure. Thanks," Angela expressed as they walked out of the room. "I don't want to keep Dr. Douchene waiting though."

"We have a minute. He knows you need to eat," Cuddy assured her from her own room. After putting the money in her desk, she joined her roommate in the kitchen area. "Besides I need something too." She opened the refrigerator and pulled out two wrapped packages and a squirt bottle of mustard. "Help yourself."

"Thanks," Angela expressed as they made their sandwiches. Due to Cuddy's hospitality, she felt at home already.

****

[Modern Day]

_This time can't be any worse for Angie! I'll sit on House if I have to! _She saw a crowd gathering by Gate 2 to her left. _There we are! _She got up and slowly made her way over there.

Angela waved to her enthusiastically. "Hi, Lisa!" She rushed over and hugged her. "It's been way too long! Look at you! You look great! When's the baby due?"

"In the next week or so. House's mother and I can't wait. House is…well…being House." Cuddy squeezed her old friend with enthusiasm. "Brought pictures of the family?"

"Of course!" Angela patted her laptop. "I made sure there are plenty in here!"

"Can't wait to see them," Cuddy noted. "Dave mentioned you have twins?"

"Karen and Lauren are thirteen. They're really smart and great to be around," Angela indicated as they headed toward baggage claim. "Dave really dotes on them."

"And you. Is he the same guy I remember from Detroit?" Cuddy asked.

"We were friends back then but hadn't started dating at that point," Angela mentioned as they entered the claims area. She chuckled and blushed. "Actually House is responsible for that. Kind of."

Cuddy stopped and blinked. "Excuse me? House did _you a favor_?" She smirked. "He'll never be able to get over it."

"If it's okay, I'd like to share the story with you over dinner." Angela smirked mischievously. "His mother might enjoy that he did a good deed even as he was being a pain in the rear." She sighed. "Besides I wanted to say how sorry I was to hear about Princeton. I know how much you loved your position."

"I hated to give it up," Cuddy admitted. "But I couldn't let House take the fall for something we both did. Fate works in strange ways. I mean look at you. Who would've thought you'd rise so quickly in oncology? Or that you'd have a family?"

"And again, it's in part due to House." Angela smiled. "It's a hard balance between the two sides. Dave though makes it workable. He's busy too as a department chair but he's always there for the girls and me no matter what." She scanned the baggage carousel and took her bags.

"Maybe I should have him talk to House," Cuddy surmised.

"That would be an _interesting _conversation especially after their last meeting," Angela recalled. Seeing the confusion on her friend's face, she added, "Remember the conference in River City in '93?"

"That was David?" Cuddy did remember the scene at Princeton after that.

House had accused Angela of drug use and pushed psychologically on her. Furthermore, he taunted David for being a loser for taking a "jellyfish like Angel Cakes".

David set House straight as to what kind of a person Angela really was. _"I'll thank you not to talk about my fiancée like that again, House. Angie is the most loving, kind and capable woman on the planet. And as for taking her, we're taking each other. I love her. The end. NOW GO!" _

"Wow." Cuddy shook her head. "You really did luck out."

"In more ways than one. Granted, he is a project sometimes but he's my loving project." Angela smiled. "Let's go and meet the others for dinner. Hopefully House will behave tonight."

_We can hope! _Cuddy concurred to herself as she led them toward the car.


	10. PreDinner at Blythe's

Chapter 10 [Blythe's House]

Even as House and Cuddy went through the motions of preparing for dinner, Blythe made her way around the kitchen and worked with everything. She felt grateful for Cuddy's grocery delivery. Now she had more time to craft the meal. She checked on the roast, potatoes and other vegetables. Her salad chilled in the fridge. A gallon of fudge ripple sat in the freezer.

_Everything seems so perfect. _She looked over at the table. As in the old days, she had the red and white checkerboard tablecloth. Four places were set with white China plates between her best silver and glass drink not to mention wine glasses. Unlit candles sat in the table's center.

Still she had the nagging feeling about the event and the accompanying trio. She knew her son's penchant for intolerance especially for those he perceived as weak. From what Cuddy told her, she knew that he'd targeted Angela years earlier. _Greg, please don't be rude tonight. Please! _She resolved to be a great if not fair hostess.

Angela, she presumed, would be a good dinner guest. She was flying up there to help her son's patient. She and her daughter-in-law had been friends with each other years before. Granted they'd lost touch but Fate had swept back all together for a few more days at least. _Maybe being around her might be good for Greg after all. _

"Hey, Mom! What's going on?" House asked while coming in the door. "Ready for the big snooze fest?"

"I'm all right, Greg." She walked into the front room to see her son leaning on his cane and not too happy about things. "What's going on?"

He frowned. "Got this dumb dinner with the Guest of the Year. Woo hoo!"

She set her jaw. "Gregory House, you will treat our guest with respect. Dr. Dubois' coming a long way to help you. The least you can do is be polite to her. Lisa told me about some of your history with her. You will not embarrass her. You will not torture her. You will not insult her. Whatever is in the past, _leave it there._ You will mind me on this."

"Now you're jumping on the train too? Wonder what's in that mystery punch that Angel Cakes is bringing? Must have a real kick to it," he scoffed.

"Greg! I mean it! You've done so much the last six months with Lisa and your team. Think of the opportunity this could be for you! You can move beyond the pain."

"Move beyond the pain?" He snorted. "Ooh! When did you go all new agey on me?" He took his vial out.

She grabbed his hand. "No, Greg. That isn't the answer."

He shrugged her off. "It is for me. People like Dear Sweet Angela are the reason I have to deal with this stuff." He dry swallowed three pills. "Funny, you always let the Pain brew when Dad wanted to put it in me. Those lessons must be Hell to bear, huh?"

"You don't mean that." Her eyes watered.

He got right up in her face. "OF COURSE I MEAN IT! Think dealing with Dad was a picnic?" He glared at her. "Look at the man he made me!"

"You mean you made yourself! You're a husband, department chair and about to be a father! You don't need to keep doing this to yourself!" she snapped at him. "What about Lisa? Think of her before yourself!"

"I DO! That's why I'm putting up with this crap! Think I really want to be here?" he growled. "Ah! I'm going to check on the woodpile! It's cold in here." He limped outside.

"Greg, why…?" She collapsed to the floor and started to weep.

****

Meantime Cuddy parked the Lexus in the driveway. She had enjoyed the drive over with Angela and their initial catching up. It had seemed that in no time at all, they'd reestablished their friendship and even discovered a mutual love of cappuccino. "Thanks for this, Angie. It really hits the spot." She savored the sweet goodness in her mug. "Your tastes have certainly come a long way."

"My pleasure." Angie considered her cinnamon-vanilla drink. "I needed a fix after that flight. Why not share with my hostess?"

"Glad you did. Wait'll you see what Blythe has cooking," Cuddy told her while finishing her coffee.

"I'll bet." Angela bottomed her cup before hesitating a minute. "Hope that…he keeps somewhat civil. The memories are enough to cause nightmares." She sucked in a breath of air. "I promised Dave I wouldn't let that happen this time."

"Angie, I don't want a fight between you two," Cuddy noted.

Angela bowed her head. "There won't be unless he picks it. I won't let him pick on me." She composed herself and put a smile on her face. "But we are here for a good time tonight, aren't we?"

Cuddy nodded. "Yes we are." _Thankfully she's going in with a good attitude on this. Whatever David has done, hope it's in big supply…especially when House gets going! _She got out of the car and showed her former roommate into her mother-in-law's home. "Blythe? It's me, Lisa. I…." She saw Blythe sitting in the corner and crying, "Blythe! What happened? Where's Greg?"

"Lisa, it's nothing." Blythe wiped her eyes and stood. "I…I…should finish dinner. Greg's checking the wood in back."

"Lisa, stay with Blythe. I'll check the back," Angela indicated.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Cuddy disagreed. "Angie, why don't you...?" She turned to see her friend had disappeared. "Angie?"

"She went to the back. Help me to the kitchen?" Blythe requested. "Lisa, I'm sorry…I wish Angela weren't involved."

"I don't know if Angie can handle it. She's got it though," Cuddy assessed while helping Blythe to the kitchen. _Angie, please be careful! _

****

[Out Back]

Rather than inspect the woodpile, House leaned against the back of the house, stewing in his juices. Even if his father was gone, the ghost and the wounds still remained. For the Diagnostician, the elder House's abuse echoed across time and space.

His mother's words, ignorance and naivety brought that back for him.

"Damn shit!" he groused. He swallowed more pills and stewed in his juices.

"Abuse stinks, doesn't it?"

He turned to find Angela watching him from the shadows. "Oh goodie! If it ain't Little Ms. Country." Then he gave a mock Scream face. "Oh crap. I just made a boo boo."

Angie looked to the sky. _Father, give me strength. _Then she shook her head.

"Oh don't tell me the big bad oncologist is already discowaged!" he sassed.

"Same old House. Still haven't grown up, have you?" She stepped into the light so as to look him over.

"I wasn't the one always running to Mommy Cuddy back in Detroit, was I?" He surveyed her as well. He could tell she was definitely older. She had lost a bit of the shakes. There was also determination in her eyes that wasn't there before.

"That was then. This is now, House. Lisa's a friend and a colleague but not my mother. I'm here to help a patient. If I have to team up with you, I have to deal with it. Believe me, I hate the thought of it as much as you do," she asserted. "I'm not an intern or a resident anymore either."

"Oh listen to you! Let's see how long that lasts. I'll run you out of town within two days' time," he fired back.

"James might get into that but I'm not here to bet you, House. I just wanted to make sure you hadn't blown your fool head off or OD'd out here." She sighed. "I have better things to do than be your personal Florence Nightingale. That's Lisa's job not mine. If you want to sit out here and sulk while we're eating, be my guest."

He glared at her. "Somebody's too full of themselves, aren't they?" He smirked thinking of ways he would bring her down to size when they got to the hospital.

"Takes one to know one, House. Think on that." With that, Angela went back inside.

_Damn Angel Cakes! I'm really going to enjoy tomorrow. _

****

Angela composed herself before joining the other two women in the kitchen. _That man is IMPOSSIBLE! OOOH!!! _

"You survived, I see?" Cuddy asked. "You do have a death wish, don't you?"

"Lisa, please! Greg wouldn't…." Blythe interrupted.

"He can and he has before. He's out there stewing in his juices. I told him he could stay out there or come in and join us. It's up to him. My apologies, Mrs. House, I don't mean to be rude. I appreciate this meal and the welcome," Angela reported.

"It's my pleasure. Greg has his issues. I wish he weren't so difficult though," Blythe replied while lighting the candles on the table.

Cuddy interjected, "He'll be okay." _For him. _She could already anticipate the snark fest when they got home.

"All cozy, I see. Where's the wine? I need some pain killer," he cracked while limping through the area toward the table.

"You drink _and _take the pills?" Angela stared at him.

"Does a body good. As I recall, you've experimented too. Nasty stuff," he retorted hoping to incite a reaction.

"Lisa and I were both poisoned in River City as you well know," the visiting doctor reminded him.

"Oh please don't sic your husband on me again!" he fired back sarcastically.

Blythe shook her head and carried the roast into the dining room.

"House, quit it," Cuddy insisted.

"No, Lisa, it's okay. I think we need to get this out of the way." Angela walked right up to House and looked him in the eye. "House, you hate working with me. I don't like you either. Fine. It's a meal not the Last Supper. And I don't need Dave to defend me from you anymore either. I'm a big girl now. Besides, since you are directly responsible for my marriage, I guess you made your own mess in that regard too. Now didn't you?" She let that one hang in the air. "Excuse me. I need to wash my hands before dinner. Mrs. House, which way to the bathroom please?"

"Down the hall. Second door on your left," Blythe directed from the other room.

"Yeah like I'd help _her_?" He snorted rudely.

Cuddy arched an eyebrow at him. "You pushed her out of that banquet in San Antonio. Remember?"

He grinned while savoring the moment. "Yeah I do. Actual doctor type needed the seat over a wannabe like her."

"Greg!" Blythe lectured.

Cuddy waved off the other woman. "It's okay. I do have a point to this."

"Oh and this is where you tell me how it happened, right?" He rolled his eyes. "Please, Cuddy, I can't wait!"

Cuddy shrugged. "Angie ended up going to McDonald's. One seat was left in the restaurant: the one right across from David. Guess you better watch what you're doing? Trust me; she can make due with what she has too."

"See, Greg? It isn't so hard to do something for someone. Now is it?" Blythe supposed.

He rolled his eyes. The thought of him doing something nice for the overbearing guest was really making him nauseous. He was *really* looking forward to the next day now……


	11. House and Cuddy Bed Banter

Chapter 11 [Later that night—House Residence]

After a dinner languished in silence and lightly seasoned with bits of token warmth, Cuddy took Angela back to her hotel while House rode his bike back to the OC.

He'd fumed all of the way back about how his mother had ridden him about being so nice. But mostly, it was about the guest's attitude. _Ms. Country thinks I'm going to let her prance around the office like that, does she? _He was already breaking out the full compliment of pranks and stunts along the lines of Mercy Hospital for his nemesis. _Payback's Hell, Dubois! Better get that through your head._

He showered and headed for bed, letting his mind continue to roll down Interstate Revenge. He savored the memories of what he'd done in Detroit and elsewhere. _She'll crumble before I'm done with her. Two days and she'll be crying her way home on the plane! That is if Michaels doesn't do it to her first! _That thought brought a smile to his face. _They deserve each other! _ He felt a familiar shifting of the mattress. "We *really* need to do that more often, Cuddy. Couldn't get enough of Mom's harping and Ms. Priss."

Cuddy shook her head. "You and Angie are like oil and water, House. This has the makings of the Titanic and the Iceberg."

"And where does Michaels fall in? She'll eat Angel Cakes alive. Oh I wanna watch this!" he declared.

"This might surprise you, House, but she doesn't want any special treatment. She knows what she's getting into. And I can smell your scheming from here," she informed him.

"Sure that wasn't gas and heartburn? Being around certain on-twerp-ogists has that effect on me," he retaliated.

"There's a new one. Wonder what Wilson would think of that?" she supposed sarcastically. "Seriously, House, just get through it. Playing games will just string things out. All right?"

"Yeah well. I get rid of her and wait a week. Michaels gets to play lounge lizard. Then I get Wilson," he proposed with a bit of satisfaction.

"And I could make you sleep out in the living room for the next month too. Of course, I *could* make it worth your while…." She smiled mischievously.

"Yeah well, you ain't the Evil Empress anymore, Cuddy. Try again," he told her.

"Once the baby's born, I'm free to use *incentives* again, House. Or not. It' s up to you," she informed/threatened.

He frowned, knowing she had him there. "Going to keep me in barf bags too?" He glared at the ceiling. "Little Ms. Country Doctor told me she's a *big girl* now. Twice. Okay, she wants equal treatment. She'll get it."

Cuddy shook her head knowing he had a point. _She did say she wanted to play ball with him. _"Just keep it to a dull roar. We don't want an incident."

_Blame Angel Cakes if there's one! _He smirked. Oh this was going to be *so* good.


	12. Renewed Hostilities

Chapter 12

[Next Morning—Cold Harbor Hospital Cafeteria]

Not having heard any seismic waves rolling through the area on the previous night, Hadley made her way to the hospital. Granted she'd only been around House and his team for the previous six months but she knew how they felt about outside consultations.

Loosely translated: forget about them *unless* House pronounced them worthwhile.

_And now Peters is forcing Dubois on us? Especially given that House practically hates her? What is he thinking? _She winced while getting her coffee.

"Morning, Dr. Hadley," the cashier, an elderly Native American lady, greeted.

"Oh yeah. Morning," the doctor responded while paying for the coffee and a couple of donuts.

"The oncologist you're working with is over in the corner. Thought you'd like to know," the cashier informed her while doing the transaction and handing her the change. "Have a nice day."

"You too," Hadley agreed before taking her breakfast across the room. She sized up the visitor who was sitting in a white lab coat, reviewing a file and taking notes. "Excuse me, Dr. Dubois, right?"

"That's right," Angela agreed while looking up at Hadley. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Dr. Hadley, one of House's team. Just wondering if you wanted some company?"

Angela looked around the room for a certain adversary before shaking her hand. "I appreciate the gesture and wish I could accept. You're better off though if House doesn't see you sitting with me. I'm Public Enemy Number One where he's concerned."

"So I've heard. Anything new on the Michaels case?" Hadley wondered.

"I'm coming up with a few things. I'll try to get them in edgewise if House lets me," Angela noted. "Looking forward to hearing your insights too, Dr. Hadley." She smiled. "Sorry I have to be like this. Normally, I'd buy you a coffee and talk. I'm just trying to protect your career."

"I understand." Hadley had to smile even though she'd been denied a place at the table. "Thanks. See you upstairs."

Angela nodded in response before going back to work. After another twenty minutes of work, she definitely saw some things in the file she wanted to run by House and his team. Then she smelled the familiar aftershave and shifted her papers.

Only two seconds later, coffee spilled all over the spot. A few spots landed on her pants too.

"Oopsie! Was that _me_? _Gosh darn!_ I have the *lamest* butterfingers!" House sassed. "Really should watch out, Dubois."

She felt the steam coming out of her ears. However, she knew better than to play House's game. "Rolling out the red carpet for me already?" She took a deep breath. "I'm flattered."

"Your nice new slacks are ruined. Wonder what Peters will think of that?" he taunted.

_Turn the other cheek! Turn the other cheek! _"We'll find out in about fifteen minutes. Won't we?" she retorted while wiping up his coffee.

"Better get used to that, Dubois." With that, House took off.

_How that man can be such a jerk defies logic! What does Lisa see in him? ARGH! _She checked her watch. _Just enough time to clean my pants before the meeting with Peters. That is if House doesn't have any booby traps in the bathroom for me. _That thought made her roll her eyes as she headed toward the trash can with her refuse.

****

[Diagnostics Suite]

Cameron and Chase got up to the office and were surprised to find it empty. Especially given the previous night's festivities, they had expected to find House playing his game boy or bouncing his racquetball off of the wall.

Strangely though, the suite was empty.

"Maybe last night went better than planned?" he supposed hopefully.

"I wouldn't count on it," she disagreed. "Maybe we might want to get some Clinic hours in and stay out of House's way. Wonder if she might have chickened out after getting the full House treatment last night?"

"If you're talking about Dubois, she's downstairs working with the Michaels file. Just saw her in the cafeteria," Hadley indicated while entering with her breakfast. "Strange that she wouldn't let me sit down with her. Said something about saving my career."

Cameron nodded in appreciation. "Probably that House would take it out on your hide if he saw you sitting with her? Dubois hit that one on the head. I have to give her that much. Have you seen House?"

"No. Maybe he'll blow off the meeting with Peters and show up late?" Hadley hoped.

"And let Dubois take over the office? Not a chance," Chase disagreed.

"Ah! The troops are correct and loyal to the Master!" House declared while limping into the room. "Got to get ready to humiliate…I mean talk…with Dubois in front of Peters. Gee! Funny how coffee spills so easily downstairs!"

"House, you didn't get the file, did you?" Hadley winced.

"Relax, Hadley. Dubois managed to move in time. Still got her to clean up my mess. Kind of puts things back to the way they were," House explained while savoring the last part.

"House, you run her off, Michaels won't let anyone in," Cameron reminded him.

"Like you really care, House?" Chase added.

The head honcho shrugged. "Chase has it." He shot the ball at the trash can basketball hoop over the corner can and banked it through. "Cool! You all do my Clinic hours and I'll watch a soap marathon or something."

"Nice to see you're so ambitious," Hadley deadpanned.

"Oh but I have a plan. Just took a spin up by the Big Boss' suite." He got up and grabbed his cane. "Review the file. I'll be back. Maybe Dubois will be too if I haven't scared her off by that point." He limped out of the room with a smile on his face.

The type of smile that would have a shark proud.

He had some surprises up his sleeve all right. You could count on that.

****

[Peters' suite]

Bad news always travels fast…and the hospital administrator had already heard about the confrontation between Dubois and House downstairs. _He's going to be difficult! Why doesn't House realize that I'm just trying to help him do his job? _He heard a buzz over the intercom. "Yes?"

"Sir, Dr. Dubois is here for your meeting," the assistant answered.

"Send her in." He straightened his tie and blazer as Angela walked in. "Good morning, Dr. Dubois! How's your stay been so far?"

"Dinner went all right. You have a nice facility here. I'm eager to help however I can," she expressed while surveying the room and shaking his hand.

"Yes well, we aren't Detroit or Chicago but we have a lot to offer small town medicine. I understand you're from a small town too?" he pointed out.

"A small farming village in Upstate New York. Funny thing, you can move out of the place but really, you can't move the place out of you," she replied. "We all have things we deal with as we move through our lives. I hope I can here."

He sighed. "You mean House in your case, correct? Dr. Dubois, that's why I called this meeting. You will have every courtesy."

She shook her head. "I appreciate that, Dr. Peters. Unfortunately, it won't help me." She took a deep breath. "House won't respect me if I hide behind you or Lisa. I learned that a long time ago. If you show weakness, he'll jump all over you."

"Unfortunately, true. I heard about the coffee incident downstairs. I am sorry," he apologized.

She smiled. "I forgot how fast word can get around." She shrugged. "That was just the first salvo from House to try and intimidate me. It's his game."

"His game?" Peters looked at her in confusion.

"He's like a school yard bully who rules the roost by force. Yes, he's great at what he does. He does care about patients in his own way. But it's his own way. I'm not an idiot. I understand that." She walked about the room. "Very nice office."

"Thank you," he declared. "What about Mrs. Michaels? Have you had a chance to…?" He saw her look at the chairs in front of his desk. "Dr. Dubois, what are you doing?"

"Was your door open this morning when you came in?" she supposed.

"Yes it was. Bonnie does that every morning and puts my files on my desk so they're ready when I come in," he noted.

"May I?" She pulled the thin cushions off of the hard wooden chairs.

Under the left one, a whoopee cushion waited for a victim.

"I thought so. Typical House." She looked expectantly at him.

"What is that doing here?" he asked while examining the evidence.

"House planted it in here unless you have a janitor or Bonnie who are into pulling pranks," she presumed. "He did it to me in the Clinic years ago at Mercy."

"My word!"

"Howdy, Neighbors! Did I miss the fuss? Darn it if I did!" House interjected as he limped into the room.

"Greg, care to explain this?" Peters asked while holding up the offending whoopee cushion.

"Wow!" House gave a blank sarcastic stare. "How did *that* get in here?"

"I wonder," she indicated. "I see you're in prime form today."

"I ate my Wheaties this morning. How about you?" he fired back. "Roust the chickens and milk the cows yet?"

"Unfortunately no. I was reading about *our* case, House. I see your brand of TLC wasn't lost on Mrs. Michaels," she fired back, not giving an inch.

"Ooh! My brand of TLC? I guess I missed that class," House retorted.

"Dr. House and Dr. Dubois, please!" Peters begged. "Can't we all just get along?"

"I'm game for the patient's sake." She looked pointedly at House. "Any thing else I should know about?" She motioned to the orange bag in the administrator's hand.

He smirked confidently at her.

"Dr. House, please! We're having enough problems with Mrs. Michaels as it is!" Peters begged.

"Michaels doesn't want to see my team or me. Let Dubois deal with her…if she can. See if your brand of TLC works on her, Angel Cakes."

"I'll do that now." She checked her watch. "Maybe you might send your team to the room to assist? I wouldn't want you to miss your daily routine. Now _would I_?"

House didn't respond at her reference to his soap. He shrugged and left the room.

"I don't understand," Peters insisted.

"House has things he does. As I said, it's him being him. Sorry to cut this short but I want to see our patient. Is that all right?" she commented.

"Of course. I appreciate it, Dr. Dubois. Mrs. Michaels is very demanding. I thought you should know. Please do try and work with Dr. House. She is a big donor," he requested.

"I am trying." She rubbed her forehead. "Dr. Peters, I don't like getting into spitting matches like that. He brings out the worst in me. If you'll excuse me?" With that, she left the room.

Peters slumped into his chair and took a worried slug of coffee. This had the makings of a public relations nightmare all right…..


	13. Angela's Initial Forays

Chapter 13 [Michaels' Room—About seven minutes later]

Angela stepped off of the elevator. When she consulted on a case like this, normally it would take several hours of concentrated study for her to get through it. In this case, it only took fifteen minutes. _She's been here for four days and only two tests have been done? What is going on? _She recalled what Peters had advised. _If he's warning me, she must be something else. _She composed herself and knocked on the open door. "Hello? Mrs. Michaels?"

"Yes?" the expectant woman asked. Seeing the new face, she presumed, "You're Dr. Dubois?"

"Yes, Ma 'am," Angela agreed. "May I come in? I wanted to see what I can do for you."

"Of course you should come in! Don't hang around out there! We have tests to run!" Michaels demanded.

"Of course." Angela walked in and set the folders down on the table. "I see the last time anyone checked on you was several days ago. I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be. I banned them all from the room. Hopefully you'll impress me," Michaels retorted. She eyed the new doctor. "Are you always this nice?"

"Just trying to be a good person. I want you to feel comfortable." She opened the primary folder. "I see you had your blood work done. I want to run a MRI and a CT scan. I also need to test more blood for antibodies." She took a syringe out of her lab coat pocket.

Michaels squinted. The oncologist was annoyingly nice and maybe even a bit on the naïve side. However, unlike House and his crew, she was hitting the ground running. That was enough to score points in the patient's book. "Your flight…it went all right?"

"It was great. Thank you," Angela expressed while drawing blood from Michaels' left arm. "There! Thank you." She put the cap over the needle and placed the syringe back in her pocket. "I'll get that going."

"Certainly. I expect results, Doctor," Michaels reminded her.

Angela smiled to mask her own concern. "I'll do what I can, Mrs. Michaels. Dr. House's team is assisting me in the lab. We'll get you fixed up. As soon as we find out anything, we'll let you know. Thank you." With that, she left.

Michaels fought the urge to roll her eyes. She had a good feeling about this one but couldn't stand the saccharin sweetness. "Hope that girl's got something up her sleeve. Where does Peters find these characters?"

****

[Lab—Basement—Half an hour later]

Angie sat with a cup of coffee while waiting for the blood cultures to finish processing. She'd run some stains and reworked some of the other tests while waiting for House's team to meet her there. She'd paged twice.

Her beeper showed no responses after half an hour.

_Terrific! House is sabotaging me. _She recalled how he coerced her to cover his Clinic hours in Detroit, taking away from her research time. _And here we go again. _She checked the microscope and her eyes went wide. "Goodness me!"

The culture timer buzzed.

"I hope it isn't this! How could they let her sit like that? My word!" She took the cultures and sampled them onto a couple of slides. Then she looked under the scope again. "Darn it!" She rushed across the room and got on the lab phone. "Wish Lisa were there. Come on, Angie. You can do this!"

"Radiology."

"Yes. Hello, this is Dr. Angela Dubois. I need a MRI and a CT-scan done on Mrs. Michaels please. Is there time available this morning?" she requested.

"No, Dr. Dubois. Sorry Dr. House has tests going all day. I do apologize," the attendant indicated.

"It's all right. I'll speak to him in person. Thank you," she concluded before hanging up. She ground her teeth. "That man is SO infuriating! OOOH!!!" She considered just arranging treatment herself and bypassing House. But that would lower her to his level.

"Time to get to the bottom of this!" She put her cultures back in the lab fridge and cleaned everything up. Then she headed toward the elevator.


	14. Confrontation in Diagnostics

Chapter 14 [Diagnostics Suite]

House sat in his chair with his feet up on the desk. His eyes were riveted on the soap opera and Nurse Jones' latest flirtation. He munched away contentedly on a donut.

Over at the meeting table, the team sat with nothing to do. They knew they should be meeting with Angela and Michaels as well as doing tests. Instead, their boss had them under virtual suite arrest.

"She's paged us three times, House. We should answer," Cameron nagged.

"No we shouldn't. Let Dubois find out how smart she really is. She'll come crying to us at some point," House countered. He held up a box of donuts. "Try one of these. They're yummy!"

"House, this is ridiculous," Hadley pointed out while standing up. "This isn't a game."

"Oh but it is. Michaels refused treatment. Fine. Dubois thinks she's as good as me. Fine again. Let them rot."

Chase stared incredulously at him. "House, usually you're browbeating patients into weird procedures! You can't just let this one die!"

"Michaels is a monied blowhard, Chase. She's complaining of a hangnail. Did the tox screen show anything?" House wondered.

"No but it was only a cursory one," Cameron interjected. "House, we should have done more tests! At least Dubois' working on something! Are you willing to let a patient die because you have a point to make?"

"But it's a Big Point," House insisted. "Besides, I blocked out all of the radiology time today! Oopsie! Dubois can spin her wheels now but she can't work on nada until I say so!" He saw the oncologist stalking down the hall. "Speaking of our big shot visitor, I smell wet hen."

Angela stormed into the room. "This is what you're all doing? I'm downstairs trying to save our patient. I paged three times for help in the lab. You've got radiology all tied up. And you're doing NOTHING??"

"Commercial, Dubois. I don't take humblings until then," House snarked.

"You want me to grovel? House, you're sitting on major malpractice here and you're playing games. Look, if you want to screw yourself. Fine. You do that so well. You already cost Lisa her dream position. But for once, think of someone other than yourself!" Angela insisted. She stalked up to the desk and unplugged his television. "About time someone did that to your sorry rear."

He considered her with a bit of surprise. "Unplugging my TV? And using naughty words now? Damn! Whatever will your village minister think of you now?"

"I've been out in the world, House. He'd agree that saving a life's worth it especially if it moves a brain infarction!" Angela fired back.

"Life's a bitch, ain't it, Angel Cakes?" House proposed while standing up and glaring at her in the eye. "This here's my court and you're on it. You work my way."

"Not this time, House." Angela went nose to nose with him. "You're Daddy's boy. Fine. I'm your girl. I learned from that Hell. Maybe you want to take yourself down. Okay, fine. It's a waste of talent but the attitude stinks. Don't take your team, Lisa and your child with you."

"Very dramatic. I give it two stars. Maybe you should do some Clinic hours while you're stewing, Ms. Country. You love dealing with the whiners so much," House retorted. "And I taught you all about that. You don't have the balls for anything else."

Angela shook her head. "I hoped for something different. You can have your donuts and sewing circle. I'm here to practice medicine." She collected her things and headed out toward the elevator.

"I'm here to practice medicine!" House parroted while throwing his hands up. "Oh! The nasty guy's screwing me! I can't take it!"

"House, are you crazy?" Hadley insisted.

"Dubois' going for the dramatics. She doesn't have it in her to pull a major go-around on her own," House doubted. "She'll be in the Clinic crying her little eyes out until after lunch. I've got her right where I want her." He smirked confidently. "Once she's gone, then I'll deal with Michaels."

"Maybe we should humor her, House. Let her do the bloody MRI and CT-scan," Chase suggested.

"No way. No how," House insisted. "Take turns reading your email or do a crossword but we're staying right here." He had nagging doubts but wasn't about to cave to the visitor.

Cameron shook her head. "I'm going, House." She stood up. "Dubois is right. You're being an ass."

"I'm with you," Hadley agreed. "Enough games."

Chase looked at his girlfriend and then at his boss. "Me three."

"I could fire all three of you," House threatened.

"But then who would do your hours, read your mail and be your sounding board?" Cameron supposed. "Sit here and prove your point. We're going to at least do those tests."

After the trio left, House glared at the door and fired the blue ball off of it. "Damn stupid Angel Cakes!" Grabbing his cane, he limped toward the elevator.


	15. Diagnoses Confirmed

Chapter 15

[Peters' Suite]

Peters reviewed the facility's financial statements to distract himself from the brewing mess under his feet. He hadn't heard anything from either House or Angela for several hours. _Perhaps they're working together. One can hope! _He resolved to check on things after lunch.

Then the buzzer intruded on his interlude. "Yes?"

"Sir, Dr. Dubois is here to see you. She insists it's urgent," Bonnie announced.

He felt the dagger of worry cutting through himself. "Of course. Please let her in." He composed himself but seeing the frustration and anguish on his visitor's face rendered that for naught. "Dr. Dubois, what is it? What's happened?"

"As I told you this morning, House is being House," she replied flatly. "This is a whole new level even for him!"

"Calm yourself," he advised while trying to maintain some decorum. "I imagine this is about Mrs. Michaels?"

"It is. I saw her this morning and drew some more blood. Then I performed some tests in the lab by myself. I need a MRI and CT-scan done on her to confirm this diagnosis. Two problems: first, House's team hasn't responded to my pages and second, House has tied up Radiology for the entire day," she reported.

"You're serious?" he queried. "I made it quite clear…."

"And you expect that man to just listen to you?" She coughed sarcastically. "I'm sorry, Dr. Peters. House is House. Do you know where he and his team are right now? He's got them all doing _nothing _in that suite. If we don't act in the next thirty-six hours, Mrs. Michaels will definitely be beyond the point of no return." She handed him the file. "The results of her tests. Preliminary report is malignant cantorsis at stage 2."

"Are you serious?" He opened the file and scanned its contents. His eyes went wide. "And we sat on this? Dear Heavens! Are you sure about this?"

"I ran the tests on two cultures side by side to be sure," she confirmed. "I need those MRI and CT scans please."

"Of course!" He rushed over to the phone; the thought of lawsuits dancing in his head. He dialed Radiology and listened. Then he instructed, "Good morning. This is Dr. Peters. What are Dr. House and his team doing with the equipment at the moment?"

"We've been waiting since 8:30 for them, Dr. Peters," a female technician reported. "So far, there's been nothing."

"I see." He glanced over at Angela and nodded. Then he turned his attention back to the phone. "I want you to get that equipment ready for Mrs. Michaels immediately."

"Sir? That is who the equipment was reserved for. Dr. House said…."

"Just have it ready please. She'll be there with the patient shortly. I want the results STAT. Thank you so much," he requested.

"Will do. We'll be ready," the tech agreed before hanging up.

He did the same. "My apologies, Dr. Dubois. I will speak to Dr. House about this matter." He gulped at the implications. "This is a malpractice lawsuit in the making! We can't treat it at this point!" He saw the Ducklings through the glass. "Let them in, Bonnie, please."

Angela sighed. She knew it wasn't their fault.

"Dubois, you found something, didn't you?" Cameron wondered.

"Yes, Dr. Cameron, I did," Angela replied. "We can talk later. Right now, we need to get our patient to Radiology."

"I freed up the equipment," Peters interjected. "HOW could we sit on this result? HOW? The cancer metastasized!"

"Stage 2," Angela clarified before turning back to the administrator. "Let's just get her there. Then we'll discuss options. I just want to do the right thing by Mrs. Michaels. Can I get some help? I know what it could mean to these three doctors. I don't want any trouble for them or their careers for helping me."

"Dubois, don't go there. You don't know him…" Cameron started.

"I don't…?" Angela stared incredulously. "Don't defend him to me. I know he's a great doctor but that doesn't excuse his behavior. The ends don't justify the means."

"Not another word," Peters cut in. "Drs. Hadley, Cameron and Chase, you will assist Dr. Dubois in any way where this patient is concerned. I will make sure Dr. House is quite clear that there will be no fallout or implications. Now go."

Cameron started to say more but Chase shook his head. "Not now, Allison. The patient."

"Remember what you said downstairs," Hadley piped in.

"The patient, right," Cameron agreed before following the oncologist out the door.

Peters winced at the situation all the more. _We really sat on that? Good grief! _

****

[Radiology—Half an hour later]

House limped into the viewing area to see that his nemesis had commandeered his team and the equipment. He could imagine the hissy fit Dubois threw in Peters' office to get her way. "Anything?"

Hadley turned from where she and the other Ducklings watched the patients' results scroll across the two screens. "It's what she said, House."

"And for those of us who were in the potty when she was grandstanding?" House returned fire.

Angela shook her head. "Stage 2 cantorsis, House. You're darn lucky Michaels ordered you not to treat her. Otherwise you'd already be under a lawsuit and review."

"I'm sure you'd love to churn up the witch hunt on me," House replied evenly.

"You do that quite well on your own," Angela noted. She shook her head and rubbed her temples. "I can't believe this. It's confirmed. At least six tumors in the cerebral cortex alone."

"Will you two stop bickering?" Chase snapped.

"Tell House. I'm just trying to do my job," Angela insisted firmly.

"Yeah right. You and your little witch doctor too. Bet you want to play with your lasers now too?" He looked at the results and saw she was right. "Damn."

"She could be our only hope, House," Hadley noted.

"Dr. Chase is right," Angela agreed. "We need to work together."

"She's already past chemo though," Chase noted.

"But not her experimental therapy." House grimaced almost like a kid swallowing castor oil.

"We can't send her back to Arizona with you though. She couldn't take a flight like that," Cameron pointed out. "Not in her condition."

"Chicago," House realized. "You think Landers would have a set up like this?"

"Landers?" Chase inquired.

"Frank Landers is at St. Matthias. He and I have collaborated on the technique. We have the only two set ups like this in the country. It's a big risk but it's our only shot," Angela explained. "How about it, House? Work with me?"

"Peters has already answered that for both of us. Fine. Do it. You all go with Dubois," House relented. He shook his head wondering how he could have let this process go unchecked.

"We need you, House," Cameron insisted. "You heard Dubois. All of us."

"All of us," Angela insisted. "This isn't a contest, House."

The Ducklings headed to the patient to get her out of the machine and ready to head back to her room.

"Whatever. I'll see you upstairs," House groused before limping out of the area.

Angela shook her head as she could see her figurative olive branch lying crushed on the ground. "I tried." She got on her cell phone. "Dr. Peters, can you meet us in Mrs. Michaels' room? We need to discuss options. Thank you."

As she and the Ducklings moved Michaels toward the elevator, Angela dialed the phone again and waited for some special help. _Let's hope this works!_


	16. Issues Confronted

Chapter 16 [Observation Deck—fifteen minutes later]

House stormed out onto the observation deck, clearly fuming over the situation as it had unfolded. He couldn't believe that he had let his hatred for Dubois blind him to the puzzle at hand. That his distaste for Michaels' attitude had caused him to have a "wait and see" attitude rather than his usual aggressive examining approach.

And like a kid who had abused a privilege, it had been taken away by the political wannabes upstairs. He would have words and more for Peters and his mewling. Michaels and her damn dirty money would make things difficult after this.

But more so, he was pissed at himself. Yes he could blame Ms. Country for riding in and stealing the show. But he'd let his personal vendettas blind him to the matter at hand. Normally he would have told Michaels to shove it and push a diagnosis anyhow. He should have.

No wonder even his slaves were shocked. They should have been.

He was shocked at his own bullshit.

He'd let his feelings for the visitor knock him off of his game. "Stupid Angel Cakes." He gulped down several vicodin pills and studied the lake.

Several sailboats cruised across the placid waters. Birds flew through the clear blue skies overhead. Everything seemed calm.

But it was a lie. A storm was howling both within and without.

Even worse, it was Angel Cakes who was trying to save his ass now. Again.

To add another level to the rancid layer cake, he'd have to return to St. Matthias. The place where he'd been run out of over similar political bs.

He thought his day couldn't get any worse.

His cell phone rang. He ignored it and stared at the lake some more.

A special sing-song tone sounded from the obnoxious device. He rolled his eyes. "Great. Angel Cakes is going to Mommy again. Joy. Joy." He snapped into the device, "Yes, Empress? Is she crying yet?"

Cuddy sighed, "House, this isn't a lecture. All right? Angie called and let me know what was happening. I can't believe…."

"Don't start!" he growled.

"Fine. You don't want it sugar coated. Here it comes. Brilliant move by the way. If you'd let your team answer their beepers and assist her in the lab, she'd have joined the discussion in the suite. Gold star for blockading Radiology too. Instead of just including her in a discussion, you made it a political spitting contest because you just can't stand to share a puzzle," Cuddy pressed. "She's trying to save your ass. All right?"

"More than likely get mine fired so she can have her little fiefdom here. Maybe even mount me on her wall as the Big Prize to show off to Vogler and Tritter! And those idiots at St. Matthias are really going to love this! Yeah! That would be it! Bet she knows her way around the slaughterhouse or with that old gelding knife," he vented.

"If she was going to take that attitude, House, she would have done so. Angie has her own life in Arizona. She's here to do a job. And I agree with her. Why didn't you at least try something with Michaels?" Cuddy took a deep breath. "This is the reverse of that case where Foreman almost died. Remember?"

He nodded recalling how his feelings for his subordinate had affected his better judgment and clouded his puzzle-deducing skills. His desperation to save his team member compromised him, making him tentative and almost costing the other doctor his life.

He heard Wilson's words echoing in his mind from that time: _You're not treating him like a normal patient. You're acting normal. You're hesitating?_

And now, his hatred for the political system, monied donors and goodie-two shoes country girls had blinded him. "I remember but this is different."

"You're letting your personal feelings affect your work, House. And it could cost us." She took a deep breath. "You're going to St. Matthias with her. I'll go too to support you."

"More than likely to cheer her on!" he fired back. "Look at Ms. Angie and her sidekick kick my ass and teach me a lesson! Woo hoo!"

"House, I married you because—believe it or not—I love you. Yes, Angie's my friend but you're my husband. I want to support you and her both. She's not trying to co-opt you. She's not trying to convert you to being nice although if she had the secret to that, I'd want it. I love you the way you are. This is distasteful for you. It would be for anyone. But I want to be there with you first. Okay?"

"Sure. Whatever. The sex had better be damn good when this is over!" he insisted angrily. "See you when you decide to show up!" He snapped the phone shut and stalked inside to face the firing squad.

****

[Michaels' Room]

Even as House and Cuddy argued over the situation at hand, Peters, Angela and the Ducklings had returned the patient to her room. For several minutes, they'd sat in an uncomfortable silence while awaiting House's return.

Finally Michaels broke the silence. "I can't believe you all are sitting on your hands! What was the result of those scans? Is that what I pay the money for?"

"We're waiting for Dr. House to join us," Cameron noted. "Then we can get started."

"_Him?_" She turned to Peters effectively ignoring the other doctors. "I told you I don't want him on the case!"

"Mrs. Michaels, please. Dr. House is a great diagnostician," Angela countered. "He did run an important test which pointed the way for me." Granted she hated to lie on his behalf but right now, it was the lesser of the evils on the table. In fact, it was the right thing to do.

The other medical professionals in the room managed to keep straight faces despite the surprise.

"He tested me and I didn't know it? That man doesn't have the attitude to run anything!" the patient yelled.

Angela turned red. "With all due respect, your attitude delayed the diagnosis. You tied the hands of Dr. House and his team while waiting for me to get here…."

"How _dare _you? I paid to have you flown up here! You are…." Michaels started to snap.

"I'm _what_? Your hired gun? Mrs. Michaels, I came here to _consult _on a case not to _usurp _it. Due to circumstances, that is what has happened. I'll admit that Gregory House is not one of my favorite people in the world. Fine. But as my minister says, we have to turn the other cheek on certain things for the Greater Good. In this case, I was brought in to work _with _him not _against_ him. You denied yourself access to one of the best investigative minds in medicine. You've wasted several days of valuable time. He and Drs. Cameron, Chase and Hadley could have laid some important groundwork so that we could have accomplished everything locally. You pitted us against each other." Angela looked at Cameron. "As Dr. Cameron pointed out earlier today, this is not a contest. You made it such and it's forced a very uncomfortable situation for me to be in not to mention everyone else as well." She bowed her head. "Thank you by the way, Dr. Cameron and also to Dr. Chase, for that reminder. I really did need it."

"You're…welcome," Chase replied.

Cameron said nothing but allowed the visitor a smile in acknowledgment.

"We could have diagnosed you sooner, Mrs. Michaels, if you had let us," Hadley noted.

"Now, everyone, we shouldn't…." Peters tried to soothe.

House limped into the room, thinking he could hear the Fat Lady from the elevator. "Don't stop on my account. Keep going, _Dr. Dubois_. Dazzle us with that brilliant stuff of yours!"

"Just following your lead, _Dr. House_. I was just telling Mrs. Michaels that she created our situation here. I wish she had just let you and your team be yourselves. If she had, we could have had an answer last night and saved fourteen hours of valuable time here. Wouldn't you agree?" Angela informed House. _I'm giving you a way to save face and retake a role in this case. Take it!_

House saw the Ducklings nodding at him. He realized that's what Cuddy was getting at. Dubois was offering him a chance to avoid being sued and save face without humiliation.

Besides Michaels was getting her come-uppance. Even if it meant siding with Angel Cakes on that one, House wanted a piece of that cake large and with frosting. "All of your money, Lady, can't do squat. If you had _let us do our job_, my team and I could've solved this mess days ago!" He smirked. "Now you've really screwed yourself."

"Dr. House," Peters interjected feeling really uncomfortable in the midst of the standoff.

"I'll sue you and have you removed from this hospital!" Michaels ranted.

House was really savoring the flavors of the canary feathers by now. "Too bad you're about to be heading down the lakes. Windy City's great this time of year." He locked eyes with the old woman; his sharp blue eyes piercing hers. "It's the _only _way."

"I told you all! I want to be treated here! I won't go…."

"As Dr. House just said, it's the only way, Mrs. Michaels," Angela let her voice resume a normal professional tone as she opened the folder. "You have a very rare form of small cell cancer called cantorsis. The tests run both by the team and myself revealed it. The scans confirmed it. Because you delayed treatment for the better part of a week, it has progressed to stage 2. That is well beyond the capabilities of chemotherapy or anything that CHH has to offer." She closed the folder and looked her in the eye. "You wanted me to work on this case with the local doctors. All right. Here's what we can offer you. I have an associate at St. Matthias Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Frank Landers. He and I have collaborated on several articles together. We have an experimental technique that could work in your case. It involves using lasers for pinpoint surgery. I won't lie. It'll be risky because it'll involve the brain."

"Bring it here! We…"

House motioned to his chief adversary. "Gimme the scans! She wants to see. Let her."

"Of course." Angela handed him the scans.

The diagnostician showed the doubting patient the images. "Must be Hell to see those tumors. Guess what being too bossy gets you? Hey, I don't care. Kill yourself. We solved the case. It's your choice to live or die at this point."

"How dare you?" Michaels snapped at the group as a whole.

"You can go to Chicago and take a chance," Cameron noted. "Without Dr. Dubois' technique, you'll die within the next two months anyhow. You've paid all of this money to bring us together. Let us try."

"My thoughts exactly," Angela agreed. "Since you can't deal with a long flight to Arizona in your condition, that's the only option."

House nodded silently. He swallowed another pill to stick the knife into Michaels further.

Michaels glared at Peters. "You sure about this?"

The administrator nodded. "The diagnosis is confirmed. We can have you there this afternoon and treated tonight if you agree." He pulled out the waivers and other forms. "But it has to be there."

"There will be consequences," Michaels threatened while signing the releases.

"We are trying to save your life, Mrs. Michaels," Peters reminded his donor while collecting the papers. "If you can get dressed, we'll get up to Marquette and fly down there. Your things will be safely locked up in here. I do wish we could've done more here. This way, you have a shot at survival."

Michaels' glare at them all was poisonous. "Fine! But I'm coming back here to recoup tomorrow."

The doctors didn't answer but rather, filtered out of the room and let Michaels have her space. They had done their jobs, found options and given a route for treatment. That was all they could do.

"Nice coup, Dubois. Bet you feel all gushie good," House snarked.

"It was the only way left to treat her, House. I'm making the best of this situation. You want out of the case now. Be my guest. I want you with me—genuinely with me though." Angela glanced back at the room and shook her head. "I know you so want to stick it to Mrs. Michaels. Play with me on my court for a little bit. I know you hate it. But we'll all come out ahead." She took out her phone. "I need to call Frank and let him know we're coming. Please excuse me." With that, she headed down the hall.

"You know one of us could go with her, House. You don't need to go back there," Cameron suggested.

"No." House hated to admit it but he could see the logic. His former boss, Michael Chang, had drilled him on not being able to work with adversaries. There was the history built up between Dubois and him. There was Michaels being such an annoying wench.

He could blast all of that to Hell. Not that he cared what the rest of the whiners thought. But he could make them all squirm. He could watch Michaels finish her humble pie.

That was enough for them to take the trip.

"Let's get everything locked up upstairs. We've got some crap to dish back out," House decided before limping for the elevator with the Ducklings close behind.

_What have we unleashed? _Peters glanced around worrying about a potential scene in Chicago. Still he knew they were doing all that was possible. And that was all they could do.


	17. Cuddy talks with House

Chapter 17 [Somewhere over the Great Lakes—forty minutes later]

[A/N: Okay, I realize that a woman at Cuddy's stage of pregnancy normally would not fly at this point. But it's important she'd be there.]

Cuddy waddled from the restroom back to the row of seats she shared with House. After arguing with him, she'd retreated toward the back to speak with Angela and more importantly to give him a few minutes of peace. Over the course of their friendship and professional relationship, she had to balance the needs to push and pull at him. To demand things and yet to give back too.

This was one of those times.

She knew it was tough for him to watch someone deal with what should have been _his _puzzle. She admittedly felt torn between her old friend and husband. While she was excited to see a new technique at work (and to give it to Michael Chang in the process), his puzzle solving thrilled her in ways that she could never quite quantify much less admit to.

Chang added another angle to the whole mix too. He'd fired House in the midst of an acrimonious restructuring of St. Matthias' facility. The two had clashed for almost a year on professional ethics before it had happened.

When she brought House to Princeton, Chang had expressed his disappointment and even anger at the move, saying that she was enabling a menace.

She smiled almost wickedly. _Well, the menace now has a hand in dealing with an important patient in YOUR facility and there's nothing YOU can say about it! _ She headed back over to the row of seats to see him playing with his game boy. "Who's winning?"

He snorted. "As if you need to ask? I'm kicking its ass! Nice to know I can do that today."

"House," she disagreed. "You are actually winning this one. It may not feel like it but you are." She rubbed his shoulder caringly.

He resisted the urge to shake her off. "You have a weird definition of winning, Cuddy."

"You get to stick it to Chang. That should count for something," she pointed out.

_That _remark brought a wide grin to his face. "And I'm *so* looking forward to that too. Bet he never thought he'd see me back there."

She wanted to make a remark about Angela evening the score by letting him do so but knew better. Instead she asked, "What do you plan to do when we get there?"

"What can I do? Landers and Dubois are in control. We get to sit in the ol' cheap seats and watch. Joy. Joy." House winced as some turbulence caused his thigh to throb. "Lead me not into the Valley of the Shadow of Stupidity." He glared back toward where Peters and Angela were sitting and talking. "Look at them. Scheming away."

She shook her head. "House, I've told you…."

"Yeah yeah." He popped several more Vicodin and parroted, "Angel Cakes wants what's best for me. Yada, yada, yada."

"She wants to help the patient. Helping you enables her to help herself. Ever think of it that way? She wants closure," Cuddy pointed out.

"Oh goodie! I get to play Freud's little sidekick and she kicks me around Chicago," he sassed.

Cuddy grimaced. "It's not that at all! She wants to keep the peace! Believe me; Landers is already dealing with Chang over you being there."

"Bet Angel Cakes is going to use that too," he presumed.

"Actually, no. She's already told Chang that you'll be there and to deal with it. Funny, what bringing in big donor dollars does. She and Landers have some big grants. Thus, when she talks, he has to listen," Cuddy explained. "The politics are on your side for once, House."

"I get to wash in the dirty money. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!"

"It's not like Vogler's money, House. Angie isn't violating ethical guidelines," Cuddy argued.

"But she's violating tolerable guidelines," he countered. "She's in my space."

"Deal with it. We all have our crosses to bear. Hopefully, Michaels will deal with this," Cuddy told him.

He shook his head. "Either she takes it or she dies. Her choice. Funny how everyone's magically coming around to Ms. Country's point of view."

"And yours. House, Peters told me that Angie chewed Michaels about keeping you out of the loop. She is showing some backbone. You have to say that," Cuddy reminded him.

"Pretty words, Cuddy. The proof isn't there," House denied even if he had to admit that the oncologist's tenacity did make her more tolerable to deal with. Granted, Angela never would've made it on his team. Her ethics and attitude would've made them both sick. But at least he didn't have to deal with the weakling anymore.

"Give her a chance, House. Let her prove herself," Cuddy told him.

"I think she's done that. Take the case and run with it," he retorted.

"Again, Peters did that. Michaels didn't help. Just work with it and remember you do have the support." She rubbed his shoulder with her hand.

"Can you rub some other things against me, Mom?" he cracked lecherously.

She shook her head but let a grin cross her features. "Play nice and you may get a surprise."

"Yeah. It'd better be good," he noted sourly.

"Just be yourself. We'll deal with it," she declared.

He glanced out the window toward the approaching skyline of the Windy City. He wanted to believe that the bs wouldn't be waiting. He knew it would in one form or another though.

But Cuddy was there. She wouldn't let him fall this time. She was his rock.

He knew that even if he wouldn't admit it outwardly. Making sure nobody else was watching, he slapped her arm playfully.

Cuddy smiled ever so slightly. The gesture made her heart feel better. _Maybe we'll be okay. I can hope! _She glanced back at her old friend and wished, _Angie, please don't disappoint us!_


	18. St Matthias

Chapter 18 [St. Matthias]

Nestled into Chicago's aging west side of faded building placards and cracked sidewalks, St. Matthias provided cutting edge treatment to its patients. Its laboratories, centers and faculty were world class. Its budget was honed through decades of diligence and watchful eyes.

In the building's eighth floor, a lean Asian man straightened his tie and brown blazer before frowning. His jet black hair hid bits of frost in it. His brow knitted in anticipation of the coming storm. Michael Chang had negotiated the hospital through the previous quarter century's crises. He'd dealt with city and state watch groups. The budget increases represented a point of particular pride for him. He'd got donors to build the best labs and acquire equipment for the facility.

Of course, he needed to name these parts of the hospital, selling them off piece by piece. The money donated by these personages dictated what research was done. Such was the reality of building empires and breakthroughs in this day and age. He had to admit that he had hopes when Princeton Plainsboro Hospital in New Jersey bought into Edward Vogler's ambitions for testing and research. Then his greatest nuisance and adversary squashed those dreams under his limping, obstinate, drug infested foot.

Chang frowned and clenched the side of his desk in anger. Seven years earlier, he'd stood in that very office with Greg House, arguing about the very nature of the hospital's soul and direction. He remembered how House wanted his cases on his time and at his pleasure. Chang refused that.

House called him a worthless whore to his face.

Chang had grinned—one of the few times he'd done anything like that—and fired him on the spot. He vowed that the subordinate would *never* get a job again.

Of course he hadn't counted on Lisa Cuddy's feelings for House or her ability to create a spot for his genius. He had been revolted at how she'd let House have a free hand around the facility. How she'd lied for him, compromised herself in the face of so many things.

It was ironic how Cuddy's own feelings had brought her and House down. He'd relished the news of their dismissals. He'd heard how they'd barely avoided arrest in Orchard Cove before dealing with things and even getting jobs at Cold Harbor Hospital.

Worse above all, House was getting his way again. He had his team back again. He was getting those cases again. Rumor had it that he was making peace with his mother as well.

Even after the bastard had screwed his life to Hell, he still got everything he wanted.

And now, House was coming back. With his sidekick and new boss in tow.

To use the donors' equipment for Peters' patient.

And what was worse, he was dragging his star doctor, Frank Landers, and the latter's research partner down.

"When does the garbage stop?" Chang groused. He stalked out of the office and into the elevator.

Well he'd at least keep an eye on things. You could count on that.

****

[Van approaching the hospital]

After their plane landed at Midway Airport, Peters rented a van and arranged for their passage across town.

Unfortunately the routes were all clogged, slowing traffic to a crawl and forcing the passengers to endure each other for longer.

"Can't we get there *any* faster?" Michaels spat impatiently.

"Mrs. Michaels, we'll be there as soon as we can," Peters explained.

The patient frowned. "Some operation, this is! And what's the other woman doing here? She House's brain?"

"She's part of my team too, Genius," House retorted sarcastically. "You come up with these lines yourself or do you have your own crack team of writers?"

"Excuse me?" Michaels asked.

"You heard me, Lady. Look out. We're not in Checkbook Alley any more," House cracked while popping a pill.

"Will you stop that?" the patient demanded.

"Why? You don't like it, do you? Goodie!" House swallowed another pill for emphasis. "Just for you. Nummy!"

"Do something, Dr. Peters! Dr. Dubois! Make this lunatic stop!" Michaels snapped.

"Dr. House, please," Peters pleaded.

"What? I'm using my charm to soothe the savage beast," House insisted with mock seriousness.

"You would know what such a beast is," Angela supposed sarcastically.

"I' m more than enough man for you, Baby," House retorted.

"I have all of the man I need," the oncologist snarked back while waving her wedding ring at him. "And you have a great wife. Grow up. We have business here."

"Ooh a closet lesbian too? Why, Dubois, whatever would that minister of yours think of that?" House fired back.

"Cute, House. That would've stirred me up before. Not now," Angela responded.

"Please, you two! Calm down," Cuddy interceded.

They pulled up in front of St. Matthias.

"Goodie. Show time!" House announced while getting out of the van.

"Follow my lead." Peters straightened his own blazer. "Dr. Dubois, where is Dr. Landers meeting us?"

"He's right inside," Angela noted.

Peters nodded and led the group inside of the building. There they found a blonde slightly overweight man in a blue shirt and a lab coat waiting for them.

"Good afternoon, everyone," Landers greeted. "I'm Dr. Landers. Dr. Dubois, thanks for bringing the patient." He looked over at Mrs. Michaels and held his hand out. "Welcome to St. Matthias, Ma 'am."

"Just get me treated, Young Man, so I can go back," the patient growled. "I've had enough of this circus."

"I imagine somebody's been at work," Landers presumed while glancing at House. "It's been a while, Dr. House."

"Yeah that med school thing was a blast. Too bad I didn't just blow Angel Cakes' mind to Hell then," House snarked.

_And then Dave would've eaten your lunch. _"Nice to see we're all getting along. Dr. Cu…House, you okay?" Landers wondered.

"Baby's getting impatient but otherwise, I'm fine," she agreed.

"Here's Mrs. Michaels' file," Angela offered, giving him the file.

Landers looked at it and nodded. "Since Mrs. Michaels wants to get this over with, we can go right in. You'll be here overnight to observe your condition. After that, you will be released back to Cold Harbor."

"And we will give you the best possible care, Mrs. Michaels," Chang concurred while stepping into the area from the elevator.

"Hey ya, _Mike_!" House greeted sarcastically. "Still selling out?"

"It's _Dr. Chang _to you," his former boss retorted tersely. He turned to the others in the area. "I'm Michael Chang, the Dean of this hospital. As Dr. Landers said, if you all want to follow us down the hall, we'll check you in."

"We appreciate the use of your facility," Dr. Peters indicated as they shook hands.

"It's my pleasure. Drs. Landers and Dubois always collaborate well on their projects. If they can help someone like Mrs. Michaels, then all the better." He shot House a pointed look for emphasis.

Cuddy shook her head at her husband.

Of course, there was still a response. "As long as some big wheel swaps a check for their placard, all's cool, right?" House fired back before limping off.

Chang fumed but said nothing. He wasn't about to get into it with House in front of the patient.

****

[Observation Deck]

House leaned heavily on his cane while watching the operation going on below. He had to admit that the team's articles seemed pretty far fetched when he first read them. After all, how do you burn out developed cancer tumors at that point without killing the patient? But then again, as the Master of the Far Out himself, he had to grant that one to the other doctors. However he did so grudgingly.

"She really has something there, doesn't she?" Cuddy asked.

"She _thinks _she does," he retorted not wanting to give Angela an inch. "She's going to kill Michaels." He chuckled. "I want to see it when it happens."

"You've already done that to her," she reminded him.

"Yeah. Her first 'real patient'. Ooh, ooh! He's dead! He's dead!" He popped a Vicodin. "She and Landers are about to kill another one. This should really be good."

"They're pushing the envelope, House. Give them that," she indicated.

He nodded in spite of himself. "Michaels should've been my case and my puzzle."

She laughed. "Your problem, House, is that you're a control freak. You really need to learn how to share your puzzles. It's ironic that you have the best minds working for you and you can't do that."

"Because they're enslaved to my will, Dear. I am the lord of my dominion," he informed her.

She snorted. "You may be King but I'm Queen, House." She pointed at her belly. "Deciding vote right there."

He shook his head. "I still wear the pants of the family."

"We'll see about that," she argued with a smile. Her attention turned back to the operation.

They watched as Landers and Dubois had pinpointed the marked spots on the shaven head. Using pinpoint precision, they aimed the laser at the spots and burned the tumors away one by one. After the last one, they pulled the patient out of the restraining equipment and wheeled her into post-op.

"Ante up, House," Cuddy declared. "She made it."

He scowled. "I'll believe it when I see it!" He limped out of the room to find Chang and Peters talking in the hall. "Sharing administrative secrets? Can I get the hidden handshake. Can I? Can I? _Mike _really likes that stuff."

Chang glared at the Diagnostician. "I'll be so glad when you're back out of here, House. Hopefully you won't ruin things in Cold Harbor the way you did at Princeton or tried to here!"

"And how was _that_?" Cuddy inquired while waddling up to them. "House didn't do anything. It was still a board decision."

"One which you coerced," Chang fired back.

"Please! Let's not!" Peters tried to intercede.

"No, Dr. Peters, Dr. Chang needs to be set straight on a few things. While it's great that people want to fund medical research, it's very tempting and easy to let them handcuff your direction. When you do that, you prostitute the academy, your faculty and yourself to their whims," Cuddy responded. "Edward Vogler, the case you're referring to, tried to do that. He wanted to run the hospital like a business. Academia _is not _a business."

"So you think. That's why you are where you are," Chang countered.

"Poor _Mikey. _People give him crow and he eats it because he likes it anyhow," House cracked. "Every patient's important. Ed and you would lump them in your little clinical trials. Ooh! Big money!" He pointed back to the operating room. "As much as I can't stand Dubois, at least she's got one on you."

"Why thank you!"

House grimaced and turned to find Angela with a very satisfied smirk on her face. "Must be bad pills. Dammit!"

"Yeah a bad batch. Imagine that," the oncologist supposed while winking at her former roommate. "By the way, Dr. Chang, I heard what Lisa just said. Remember what Dr. Fishburne said to you a couple of months back?"

Chang's eyes burned at her. "You make it difficult for me to support Dr. Landers. He…may…end up without job."

Landers looked at his boss and then at House. "What? We just solved a tough case and my job's toast?"

"Money drives things, Dr. Landers. Consider that…and your choice of friends. Talk to House. He'll tell you what happens in that regard," Chang pointed out haughtily.

"Yeah, Landers. Chang will grovel to the big monied donors. He'll sell your office to the Big Guy at Midway and kick you to the curb. Ooh! Big stuff!" House noted. "Best be looking out for your own ass."

"Or let your friends do that, Frank," Angela noted while rubbing her colleague's arm supportively.

"Thanks, Angie. I know that," Landers expressed. "Let's check on our patient. Dr. House, care to follow us?"

"I actually get to do something? Wow!" House insisted sarcastically.

Angela bit back a sarcastic response before heading out.

"Be careful, Michael," Peters advised. "You may find yourself short an oncologist."

"I will deal with that. I appreciate the opportunity to help you. Perhaps we might do so again?" Chang motioned toward the door where the trio had just left.

"Maybe. I will definitely be in touch. Dr. House, shall we?" Peters replied before he and Cuddy left.

Chang shook his head. _What is it with House? He inspires trouble wherever he is! _He left for the elevator and to get as far away from the limping nuisance as possible.


	19. Departures and an Arrival

Chapter 19 [Three Days Later—CHH]

Due to Michaels' insistence and Chang's increasing need to rid himself of House, the group returned to Cold Harbor on the day after the operation. The patient's great prognosis made this move possible.

Chang did indeed pressure Landers further. Due to his partner's stance on the case, the oncologist was forced to resign his position and lost privileges at the hospital. However he had another position—this one in Tucson.

House did indeed predict how that was going to go. In some ways by assisting in the process, he had one-upped his former boss and (unwittingly) helped his colleague/former punching bag again.

Landers' offer and acceptance of the new position had pulled the rug out from under Peters who'd wanted to offer the same at CHH. Still there were other names the administrator was looking into. A quick hire was indeed made but was still brewing…..

****

[Michaels' Room]

Angela, Cameron and Hadley ran tests around their recuperating patient while making sure that everything continued to go well. Unlike the previous stint in that room, everything was going nicely for Mrs. Michaels. The three doctors concurred that more than likely she could go home in two more days' time. They saw that the cancer had been completely cleansed from her system.

The patient coughed and opened her eyes. "You all like to preen, don't you?"

"We want to make sure everything's still on course, Mrs. Michaels," Hadley told her. "How are you doing?"

"I feel better. Whatever she and Landers did is working great." Michaels looked at Angela. "I want you to take the oncology post here. I'll get Peters to give you whatever you want, Dr. Dubois. I know people at Northern Michigan. They'll get your husband a professorship there."

Angela sighed and shook her head. "I appreciate that, Mrs. Michaels. Really I do. But my family is established down in Arizona. We finally have things the way we want them. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate your support. I do. Frank Landers and I will be working together at the UMC. The research that went into our procedure will continue there."

Michaels nodded sadly. "I see. I can respect that, Dr. Dubois. You're a fine doctor in spite of what House says. You're also a good person despite the sweetness. You understand of course that there will be a check forthcoming to your facility for that research. No strings attached. That procedure made it possible for me to be here right now. I think it should help others."

"I appreciate that but I won't let money control our research. Be that as it may, Dr. Fishburne would welcome such an unburdened gift. Thank you," Angela accepted. "You might also make sure that Dr. House and his team have support too. We're all partners in this."

Michaels coughed again. "I'll need to talk with Peters. You are something, you know that? The man insults you constantly. Yet you still look out for him."

"One needs to recognize talent in whatever package it comes in, Mrs. Michaels. My husband has his own issues yet he's a brilliant professor, a wonderful husband and a doting father. House is the same way. I really appreciate how this case has given me the chance to see him for what he is."

"And what's that?" Cameron asked.

"I saw him as the Boogey Man before. Now I see him as an overbearing ass. Granted he's a brilliant doctor and the best diagnostic mind in the country but he's so overwhelmed by his issues. I wish he and Dave could meet. They might help each other." Angela sighed sadly. "Well, I do have some other matters to wrap up. Mrs. Michaels, thank you for allowing me to work on your case." She offered her hand.

The patient shook it. "And thank you for being here, Dr. Dubois. Your family and hospital are lucky to have you."

"Actually, I'm lucky to have them. Have a good evening," Angela concluded with a smile before departing.

"Too bad," Michaels lamented. "You all just lost a great colleague."

"Dr. House and our soon-to-be named oncologist will do a great job," Cameron maintained.

"I'm sure. Well you all have other patients. Let me sleep, will you?" Michaels insisted before shutting her eyes.

The two fellows felt shut out again. Still she did admit that they had a use in this procedure. Besides they did have the Clinic. They collected their stuff and left the room for their volunteer duty.

****

[Diagnostics Suite]

House surveyed the lakefront through the plate glass window. He'd chewed the Ducklings out for messing with his mail and slacking off on (his) Clinic hours. Accordingly, they all had extra (ie: his) Clinic hours for the next two weeks. He noted that the lake still seemed calm with only a few ripples in it.

On the CD player, he had the Britonic Quintet playing to soothe his nerves

He knew a meeting would be coming with Peters over the Michaels' case.

Oh was he going to exact some whup ass from his boss on that one. No way was his boss going to end around him again like that especially with someone so irritating.

"Kind of peaceful, isn't it?"

He grimaced and wolfed down three more pills before facing The Nuisance. "Can't even let someone philosophize, can you, Angel Cakes?"

"Philosophizing is good for the mind and soul, House," Angela agreed as she entered the suite. She closed her eyes and smiled. "We can agree on music. They're great, aren't they?"

"They have their moments. Kind of overblown," he sassed.

She smirked. "Richard's a wonderful friend, House. He and the group are like us in their own way. They craft and work out a medical symphony in their own right."

"Yeah. You know those guys?" He snorted.

"My husband introduced us. You should try to make a concert _if _you can get tickets," she retorted. "Still we do have some common ground. I've also learned not to fear you, House."

He sniggered. "Don't look for any Christmas cards from me anytime soon, Ms. Country."

"Your loss. I saw some potential there. I just told Michaels to back you and your team. Oh don't worry, she offered me a position here. I turned her down. I don't want your delicate tummy getting nauseous." She rubbed her forehead. "You have a second golden opportunity, House. You and Lisa are starting a family. Peters considers you a viable asset. You have your team. Don't blow it! Just get along with the new oncologist." She stuck her hand out.

"You really think I'm going to shake that thing? After _everything _you did here?" He glared at her. "Dubois, you hijacked _my _case! You performed the whole dog and pony show. Don't think one success means we're buddies."

"Heaven forbid I want to make some sort of peace for Lisa's and your baby's sake, House," she fired back. "I'm doing the good Christian thing." She kept her hand out while locking eyes with him.

"Dubois has a point. Shake her hand already, House," a familiar voice urged.

Both doctors turned to see Wilson standing in the doorway watching them.

"James? I thought you were in Prague!" she presumed.

"The conference ended early. Besides I got a call from Peters and flew here for some urgent business. Imagine my surprise when he offered me the oncology position here," Wilson replied. "I accepted it. I couldn't let Cuddy handle you by herself."

"Gee, Wilson! I didn't think you cared! Especially seeing how you turned Judas back in Princeton!" House snarked.

"There are such things as rules, House, not that I expect you to follow them of course. That would be impossible for you to do. But Princeton wasn't the same without you. Wyngate is doing a Chang act. You know what that means," Wilson continued.

"You quit because you couldn't do what you want. Hope Peters isn't going to stab you in the back when his Big Shot wants a second opinion too," House cracked.

"Funny thing, Hotshot," she interjected. "I tried to work with everyone but a certain limping twit froze me out of the loop. Wonder who that would be?"

"Don't go there, Dubois. At least the case was solved. You cracked a major case and worked with House. I know how big of a deal that is for you. You and Landers have always been a great team. You will be in Tucson," Wilson advised knowingly.

"You and he need each other," she concurred. "I hoped Peters would see the light when Frank and I both turned down the position here." She lowered her hand. "Some day, House, I hope you can move beyond the pain. I've moved beyond my fear. It's a pity. Such a great mind and man yet you're blinded by pain and hate. I'll pray for you. Well, Lisa's waiting. Best to you both. James, congratulations on the new position." With that, she left the area.

"Ain't she the big shot? She's moved beyond her fear. Oh big deal! Someone call the presses!" House groused.

"She's definitely grown. Look, Dubois could let her bitterness freeze you out. She just made a big gesture. Just think about that. All right?" Wilson pondered another point before adding, "By the way, think we could grab a beer?"

"You're paying," House asserted.

"Heaven forbid we go Dutch or anything. I anticipated that. Come on; let's go," Wilson accepted while walking with his friend toward the elevator.

The more things changed, the more they seemed the same…..


	20. Angela and Cuddy talk

Chapter 20

[Marquette International Airport—an hour later]

Cuddy and Angela drove the fall-lined route; each absorbed in her own thoughts. It had been a long week for them and House both. They'd skirted political disasters, a major malpractice suit, demons of the past and the inevitable fight between former victim and torturer.

"It's a shame you and David couldn't have come, Angie. It's been nice having you around again," Cuddy told her friend. "Especially since you've learned to stand up to House."

"It'd be more trouble than it's worth, Lisa," Angie noted with a bit of sadness. "He and I can't be on the same staff. That doesn't mean we can't all be colleagues and friends. Well, if he gets the stick out of his rear, he could be. Frank and I have our team set up in Arizona. You and House have a great situation here. Besides I found out who the new oncologist is." She grinned.

"Who?" Cuddy wondered as they turned into the airport.

"James Wilson. He stopped by House's suite as we were saying our farewells. Looks like Peters made a sound hire. You all worked together at Princeton, right?" Angela presumed.

"We did although he was on the committee that fired us," Cuddy noted as she pulled up to the gate. "He was in a role he didn't like and pulled through it. I guess we can all do the same thing."

"That baby's going to need its Uncle Wilson," Angela teased. "Lord knows, you'll need his help to keep House in line."

"You mean _manage _him. Nobody keeps House in line not even House." Cuddy nodded. "Marriage isn't easy, is it? Especially when the spouse has issues."

Angela smiled. "One thing I've learned is to look past the issues and at the man. I love Dave. You love House. That's all that matters. We can move mountains from there." She hugged her hostess. "Thank you so much for the hospitality. Fire me an email from time to time. I want to see pictures of that baby!"

"Wilson and I will want to know how you all are doing down there too," Cuddy agreed.

Angela got out of the car and waved at Cuddy again. Then she disappeared into the terminal.

Cuddy shook her head in wonder. At the beginning of the trip, she'd feared that her old friend would collapse and cringe under House's pressure. However, the inverse had been true. Angela's resolve and willingness to grow and overcome made things work.

Even if House would never admit it to himself.

"Speaking of House, time to get back," Cuddy told herself before driving back toward the state road and Orchard Cove.


	21. Conclusion and Wrap Up

Conclusion [That Night]

[Tucson International Airport]

Angela stepped through the gate of the airport jetway feeling tired and worn out. The weather around Chicago had forced a lengthy delay at O' Hare. While she'd worked on her computer during that time, she wanted to get back to her life. _At least Frank's on his way and I have House behind me for now! Hope that everything's okay…._

She stopped abruptly and smiled at the sight in front of her.

There waiting for her were her family as well as Frank and his family.

"Hi, Princess! Congratulations!" David exclaimed as he approached with a half dozen red roses. "I told you so, didn't I?"

"You and Karen did. I actually worked with him! I wasn't afraid!" She accepted the roses and a kiss from him. "Thanks for you all believing in me."

"We always did. You just believed enough in yourself to do it," Karen concurred.

"Thanks for a better position," Landers expressed. "This whole deal with House did have a silver lining. Almost makes up for that scene at Columbia."

David shook his head at their long time friend. "Don't bring that up tonight. We have a lot to celebrate. Let's go."

"I guess since I have two days until I start there. I can start moving tomorrow. Tonight is for a great dinner and companionship," Landers noted.

With that, the group all headed toward the baggage claim and a restaurant to be named later. Angela's faith and good work with House merited a celebration on all fronts.

****

[Marquette—Blythe's House]

House stared through the dark nocturnal mist toward the southwest. Somewhere out there, he could almost feel his nemesis celebrating her conquest of his space. He frowned sourly. Despite her assistance and half-assed apology for the machinations involved, he still loathed Angel Cakes. "Stupid."

"Greg, will you stop that and join us please?" Blythe requested.

"It's okay, Blythe," Cuddy assured her from where she and Wilson were sitting. She had hoped that the beer and afternoon-long conversation would have soothed her husband's moods. She could see it hadn't. "Let me." She waddled over to his side. "House, is this still about Angie? She's gone."

"Yeah well, she certainly took her share of scalps, didn't she?" House swallowed a glass full of Scotch and glared icily at her through the blues.

"She also gave Peters the opening to bring Wilson here. Frank Landers is better off. Besides you had a hand in screwing Chang out of his major grant machine." Cuddy reminded him. "She could have taken the job and made both you and her miserable. She didn't. As she said, she and David have their life. We have ours. She does want to be your friend."

"Yeah right."

"This is twice she's saved your sorry ass, House," Cuddy insisted. "Maybe some day you can return the favor?"

He snorted. "Yeah right. Like I'd do _anything _for her? She screwed me by playing Michaels' puppet."

"Funny," Wilson cut in. "I heard the puppet stood up to the mistress and put her foot down. I know you two have a history, House. But for once, I just wish you could see that everyone wins here. Just let it happen."

House shrugged. He wanted to retort but could see that his mother and wife weren't going to be too thrilled by his response. He bit back the answer and gave Cuddy's hand a gentle squeeze. He still wasn't satisfied but saw that he did have the elements of a small victory around himself.

That and hearing about Chang's reaction to Landers' new position made him feel all the more gratified for the time being.

"That's better. Now let's all eat," Blythe noted while putting the turkey on the table.

As the group settled in to eat, they mused over the events of the previous week. Life tests everyone. The secret is to grow and perhaps discover a way to compromise without selling out oneself. For House and Dubois both, they had done just that. Politics had forced a rocky road. In the end, both had grown and were on a way to smoother sailing.

For House, in light of what was to come, that was a big road indeed…..

THE END (for now)


End file.
